Secret
by lucyhoneychurch
Summary: Clark and Lois embark upon a different path when faced with the death of someone very close to them.
1. Prologue

Title: Secret  
Author: Lucy Honeychurch  
Rating: PG-13 with a smattering of R and a twist of possible NC-17, but I'll warn you all when it's coming up  
Disclaimer: I Own Nothing  
Spoilers: Season 5 spoilers  
Summary: Clark and Lois embark upon a different path when faced with the death of someone very close to them...

**Prologue: Death**

He hadn't been prepared for this.

Jor-El had warned him that it was coming but he hadn't…..he sighed, trying to stem the tears that were threatening to make an appearance for what seemed like the millionth time that day. The fact of the matter was that, even though he knew it was going to happen….he just hadn't expected it to be her. He hadn't thought that Jor-El could be that cruel.

He hadn't thought he'd take his best friend away from him.

"Clark?" Lois's voice broke in softly to his thoughts as she stepped into the loft, still dressed in the black dress that she had worn for her cousin's funeral.

"Yes?" he cleared his throat, blinking back the tears so she wouldn't see them.

"Your Mom wanted me to come get you. It's time for dinner."

"I'm not hungry," he murmured, standing and moving to stand by the window, leaning onto his arms on the ledge and putting his head down into his hands. Despite how he fought it, the tears began to fall silently.

"You have to eat something you know," Lois came to stand next to him, letting him cry without drawing attention to it. Now was not the time for that kind of thing.

He remained silent.

"She wouldn't have wanted you to mourn her like this," Lois shook her head, feeling her own tears start. "And she wouldn't have wanted you to blame yourself for what happened. It was a drunk driver Clark. Even you couldn't have saved her."

"If I hadn't have been out with Lana, maybe I could have," Clark's jaw locked painfully.

Lois shrugged, "Maybe. But maybe not."

"Lois, you don't understand," Clark continued to look out at the stars. "I'm responsible for this."

Lois looked at him incredulously, "Are you trying to tell me that you were the drunk driver then? Or the bartender who fed him the drinks? Or even one of the people at the bar who let him get into his car?"

"Does it matter Lois? I should have been there…"

"Clark," she said firmly, her voice breaking with her own tears. Determination drove what she had to say next though. It was too important not to say because she knew for a fact that Chloe had seen something in Clark that she had never seen. Despite her own feelings on the subject of the man in front of her, she respected Chloe's memory too much to let her best friend do this to himself, "It was just her time and no amount of tears or questions is going to make her come back. Not this time anyways. She's dead Clark, and we're just going to have to live with it."

She stood still in the loft, waiting for Clark to say something. When it didn't come, she spoke again, this time awkwardly as the tears almost overtook her again. She couldn't let that happen. She had to be strong; she was a Lane after all, and Lane's didn't display signs of weakness…"Well, uh, dinner's going to be on the table any minute now so I better be going."

"Lois wait," Clark murmured, stepping closer to her. "I'll come with you."

She nodded, grabbing his hand and starting for the stairs. His mother would be happy that she got him to eat something, or at the very least, get him to the table.

Clark hadn't exactly been sociable since the accident had happened.

Last night had been awkward, Clark having holed himself up in the barn and Lois, alone with his parents, making the last funeral arrangements with Gabe Sullivan, who had come out to the farmhouse because he hadn't wanted Chloe's presence in the apartment to overtake him again.

Or so Lois assumed anyway; she was ashamed to say that she hadn't thought to ask.

For now though, she and Clark would go have some dinner and, hopefully, forget for a moment that her cousin and his best friend was now 6 feet under the ground.

This time for the last time.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Confessions**

Lois Lane watched as Clark entered the Talon from her space behind the coffee bar, taking in from the expression on his face that the conversation he had set out that morning to have had not gone well.

Indeed, Clark had left their conversation on the merits of a truthful relationship that morning with the intent to tell Lana everything about his heritage-for once, fully adhering to their 'no more lies' relationship. After almost a year of dating, it was about time. After all, Lois had been told Clark's secret two weeks before Chloe's death, Chloe having pressured him into it after Lois had accidentally witnessed him saving someone.

Ultimately, Chloe had known that Lois would guard his secret with her life and this was probably the last gift that she could have given Clark-someone else who wasn't his parents that he could be himself around. Chloe, apparently, had known what she was doing because Lois had been perhaps the most steadfast keeper of his secret since Chloe had died but she had been against telling Lana.

As for her opinion on the matter, Lois hadn't thought the relationship between Lana and Clark would work out anyways. In theory, yes, but in practice…..

Not that she could tell Clark this.

The fact of the matter was that, in practically assuming the supportive role of Clark's best friend since Chloe's death a month ago, he returning the favour (although she wouldn't admit she needed it as much as he did), she hadn't had an easy time of it. His relationship with Lana was non-functional and she didn't know how to tell him that. In her opinion, instead of worrying about where he should be taking her for their one year anniversary, he should be more concerned with dumping her once and for all. This was not to say that she didn't like Lana (although there were moments when she thought she did). No, Lois had problems with the Lana-Clark relationship because it didn't seem to work right. Too many lies lay between the two of them.

On the topic of potential lies being demolished, Lois wished once again that she was playing the part of Lois Lane, snarky house guest and bane of Clark Kent's existence, and not the supposedly 'improved' Lois Lane with new emotionally supportive capabilities. Truth be told, she was trying to fill Chloe's shoes and, as each day passed, she was discovering that when it came to Clark Kent, she just couldn't do it right.

"Is he alright?" Martha murmured over Lois' shoulder, having noticed as her son trudged into the Talon with his book bag and sat down at his usual table, taking out his history text book and diligently reading.

"Today was the day," Lois murmured back, putting more foam on the cappuccino she was making before setting it on a tray to take to table 6.

"You mean…" Martha looked shocked. Clark hadn't mentioned anything about telling Lana about his secret that morning. Granted, he had been dating her for almost a year so it was high time, but she had thought he would have ran the idea past Jonathon and herself before he made a decision about it. She took comfort in the fact that he had at least gone to Lois with it, "Did he tell her then?"

Lois nodded, picking up the shaker of cinnamon and sprinkling a bit on top before handing it off to the waiting waitress. "And it looks like it didn't go well."

Martha shook her head worriedly, "You don't think she's going to tell anyone, do you?"

Lois shot Martha a look and lowered her voice, leaning closer, "And who would believe her? Besides Lex Luthor, no one in this very weird town of yours is going to believe that your all-American son is an al…"

"You two aren't being very discreet over here," Clark's voice broke into their whispered conversation grimly as he appeared at the counter, making Lois jump.

"Smallville," Lois put a hand to her now startled and rapidly beating heart, "Don't scare us like that. It's called making noise when you walk up to someone. Let's them know you're there and all…"

"And where's the fun in that?" Despite his bad mood, he cracked a small smile.

Lois simply glared at him.

"Why didn't you tell your father and I that you were going to tell Lana?" Martha demanded softly, crossing her arms and giving her son a chastising look.

He shrugged, "It didn't really seem like something I needed to tell you guys. At least yet anyways. Besides, we've been dating almost 11 months now. I thought it was about time I told her everything about me."

"Oh right," Lois rolled her eyes. "Like she told you about Brainiac's spaceship that Lex was keeping? And look how that turned out…"

"That was different," Clark argued weakly, slipping down onto one of the empty barstools sitting against coffee bar.

"Right," Lois crossed her arms. "Because Lana's a truthful little angel…"

"Lois!" Martha said in a scolding voice.

"Oh come on Martha," Lois scowled. "She's clearly toying with your son's emotions here." She turned her questioning gaze on Clark now. "What'd you do after she took the news badly then? Break up with her?"

"You know, you weren't this negative this morning. I thought you liked Lana," Clark leaned forward, not answering her question and shooting his mother a pleading glance to get him out of Lois' questioning eye.

Lois shrugged, "Things change, I was lying this morning and I've never really liked Lana. Tolerated her yes, liked, no. So did you break up with her or did she break up with you?"

Clark drew a breath. It was times like these that he missed Chloe the most. While he appreciated Lois' 'pep talks', (aka interrogation/'motivation' sessions) they lacked comfort for him; Lois tended to get right to the point and didn't generally care if she made a mess as she did it. Chloe, he remembered, had always been more subtle about it…

This, he had found, was taking some getting used to.

"Neither," he breathed out finally. "We're taking a break so she can get used to…"

"Who you are?" Lois rolled her eyes, "Clark, your powers are a part of you and nothing-not even time-is going to change that. If she can't deal with it, than I say you're better off without her."

Clark watched as Lois picked up the tray of coffee she had been preparing as she had been speaking to Clark. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have coffee to deliver. Maybe your Mom can knock some sense into you while I'm gone."

Clark sat down on one of the bar stools surrounding the counter and sighed, meeting his mother's gaze and smiling reminiscently, "I miss Chloe. She was always better at this supportive thing."

Martha gave Clark a sympathetic smile, "Sweetie, I hate to say it, but Chloe would probably agree with Lois. I know that Lana is who you wanted to be with for a long time but," she shook her head sadly. "If she can't take you as you are-powers and all, than maybe it's not meant to be."

Clark shot his Mom a sad look, "But Mom, I love her…."

She sighed, not knowing what to say to her son about the situation he had gotten himself into. On the one hand, she knew in her heart that her son deserved someone who recognized just how incredible he was and loved him more for it but on the other hand, Clark had loved Lana Lang since he was a child and that fact couldn't be ignored either. It depended on Lana now and hopefully, Martha prayed, Lana would either call it quits with her son or accept him completely. No more of this very lukewarm relationship that Lana and Clark had been involved in for the past 8 months or so.

"Smallville!" Lois called from across the room, tilting her head to the table that his things were sat at. "Are you planning on staying to study? We're short tables…."

Clark sighed, shaking his head and moving toward the table to pick up his stuff.

"Here," Lois handed him the keys to her apartment. "If you want to stick around, you can use my apartment to study."

"You sure?" Clark looked at her incredulously as the group who had been waiting for a table took his.

She nodded, smirking at him, "Besides, I might have some more words of advice for you on your 'Lana' issue and, unlike some people I know, I can't move very fast. I can't get to the farm and back on a 15 minute break you know. If you're upstairs, I can easily come up there to convey my words of wisdom to you."

"Goody," Clark said in a deadpan voice, turning away from Lois. Despite her warnings of more potential advice, he thought he might take her up on her offer.

He didn't feel like going home right now and he DID have readings he needed to complete for his classes the following day.

"And Smallville?" Lois called as he ascended the stairs.

He turned, looking down at her expectedly.

"Don't mess up the place," she shot a teasing look at him.

Clark didn't warrant her 'warning' with an answer, instead, letting himself into Lois' apartment and closing the door.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Conversations **

Lois sighed deeply as she watched the clock. This day would never end at the rate it was going. Indeed, the past three hours of her shift had passed slowly-so slowly that she was on the verge of faking an illness and leaving for the solace of her apartment and the practiced confusion that was Clark Kent. The truth of the matter was that, since he had come in with his tale of woe regarding Lana and the telling of his most guarded secret, she had wanted to sit him down and hear every detail. Now, after three hours at the Talon, she was about ready to go upstairs and put a stop to the studying time he should have been using to educate her on the situation.

"Lois," Martha Kent said softly, a smirk on her face as she watched the younger woman watch the clock that sat next to the cash register.

"Um-hm?" Lois responded, looking up and pasting a smile on her face.

"It's not too busy down here, why don't you go upstairs and see how Clark's doing?"

"But my shift's not over…"

"Lois," Martha sent her an indulgent smile, "Just go. Have a good time."

Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Lois did just that, quickly removing her apron and handing it to Mrs. Kent with a mischievous smile, "What time do you need him back by? It might take awhile to get all the details out of him"

"Why don't you both come over to the farm for dinner tonight about 6? Clark can drive you home."

"Alright," she nodded, already looking forward to a home cooked meal in the comfort of the Kent's kitchen, let alone the 'drive' home from Clark. In the past week, Clark's ability to fly had grown dramatically and she was hoping tonight would be the night that he finally took her along for the ride. With this in mind, she smiled again in Martha's direction, the promise of details concerning what she would glean from Clark today in her eyes, and walked toward the stairs that would lead her up to her apartment.

* * *

Clark fell onto Lois' sofa with a crash, having been caught off guard by her entrance. Indeed, had she been someone else, he would be hard-pressed to give a good reason why he had been able to 'crash' onto the couch beyond what was the truth: he had been floating and, unlike any of the times that he had accidentally done so, this time had been planned. As it was, Lois knew about his newest power and had been encouraging his use of it-although with Lois, he suspected that she had ulterior motives for this encouragement.

She smirked, closing the door behind her and catching the sheepish look that Clark currently had on his face, "Practicing?"

He nodded, standing up and retrieving the book that had fallen out of his grasp when he began to fall mere moments ago.

"And studying at the same time?" Lois said in an incredulous voice.

"I was working on my concentration," he said, setting the book down on the coffee table next to his other schoolbooks.

"And not doing a terribly good job at keeping it apparently if your crash landing was any indication," Lois quirked an eyebrow in his direction, smirking. She watched as his expression of exasperation and annoyance (the one that she had come to associate with anytime she and Clark spent together) made it clear to her that she had successfully removed the immediate possibility of an angsty lover's lament from him over Lana, before motioning for him to follow her into the kitchen area.

Clark rolled his eyes, bracing himself for a battle of words with Lois. Truth be told, that would probably be the best thing for him right now. Indeed, since he had come up to the apartment he had only had one thing on his mind: Lana. He was pretty sure he had lost her today and he didn't know how he was supposed to feel. On the one hand, Lois had been right about Lana either being able to accept him for the person he was-powers and all- or not. If she couldn't, then it probably was a good thing that they were taking a break from each other for an, as yet undetermined amount of time.

"What's your point?" He glowered at Lois as he sat down at the kitchen table and crossed his arms, angry now at the both the woman in front of him and the situation that had brought her up to her apartment to have, he assumed, a conversation concerning his failed relationship.

Lois simply looked at him without answering, a thoughtful expression on her face before turning to go behind the counter to make some tea.

Clark furrowed his brow at the weird behaviour Lois was currently exhibiting. Indeed, she should have been up to the interrogation portion of their conversation by this point, having been denied all of the details because of her shift earlier. Now that she was done work for the day, he had been fully expecting the third degree. This left him with one conclusion: she wanted something.

"Lois, is something wrong? Why all these questions about my flying abilities or lack thereof?"

She looked up from the kettle she was filling at the sink, "Can't I be interested in a friend's skills?"

He raised an eyebrow, "No. Now what's your problem? Does this have anything to do with Lana? Because I know you're dying to ask me all about it…."

"No," Lois scoffed, trying her best to look as if she were telling the truth. The immediate conversation DIDN'T have anything to do with Lana but after she was done with the first issue on her agenda, Lana would most definitely be discussed. "This has nothing to do with…" she caught herself. They WOULD be getting to Clark's girlfriend in a minute- it was probably better to prepare him for it now… "Well yeah, it does kind of have something to do with Lana. But…the first part about these new abilities you're currently 'harnessing,'" She made air brackets at this point, "Has nothing to do with her…for the most part anyway."

"Lois…" he ground out warningly.

"Alright, fine," she relented, taking the kettle she had filled and placing it on the stove to heat. "Your Mom invited me to dinner tonight and I was hoping you'd choose an alternate form of transport when taking me back here after. It's not the reason I came up here but it is something that popped into my mind as I got out of my shift and decided to come up here to interrogate you."

"Interrogate me? And who said anything about taking you home?" he narrowed his eyes, standing up and moving towards the stove and subsequently, her.

"Your Mom did. And that would be where the Lana part comes up. If you just tell me what happened, I won't have to interrogate you…." she trailed off as she watched Clark get up from the table and then walk over to where she had just turned the burner of the stove on, switching it off. "Hey! What are you doing with that? I'm trying to…." She watched as he used his heat vision on the water, rolling her eyes as he took the now boiling hot water and poured it into the teapot.

"You know, some of us like to do it the old fashioned way," Lois mused, calm now that she knew that Clark wasn't trying to deprive her of any form of caffeine and leaned past him to put two teabags of black tea into the teapot before putting the lid and a tea cozy firmly on top of the entire thing.

"And you're not one of them," he said, crossing his arms and leaning against the countertop.

Lois waited a beat, taking in the stony faced look he was currently sending her.

Something told her that she was going to be earthbound this evening if this went on for much longer and that was unacceptable. She wanted to fly and Clark was going to take her whether he wanted to or not.

"No I'm not," she answered his statement, "You're right about that; which is why you should be indulging my aversion to the ordinary by flying me home tonight rather then driving."

Clark simply looked at her incredulously, trying to gauge exactly how serious she was about this idea while at the same time, realizing his incredibly good luck that she wasn't dwelling on her original reason for climbing the stairs to her apartment.

"Lois, I can't," he said after a moment, pondering her question once again.

"Why not?" she persisted. "I've seen you do it alone, why not with me along for the ride?"

"Because it's different. I can't get hurt if I drop from the sky. You…."

"I what?" she crossed her arms. "Clark, strange as it may seem, but I trust you. You've been practicing a lot lately and I'm tired of waiting. This can be your test flight."

"Lois, what if I dropped you?" he exclaimed in frustration. "I would never forgive myself if something happened."

"Well you'll just have to be extra careful, won't you?"

He met her defiant gaze head-on and drew a breath. She had a point and he WAS about ready to challenge himself with his new ability. He just wasn't sure he was ready to risk someone's life in doing so…"Maybe. We'll talk about it after dinner."

"Alright Smallville," she said, releasing her crossed arms. "But you're going to say yes, I know it…"

"What time did Mom want us home for dinner?" he murmured, changing the subject and clearing his throat as he turned to gather two mugs out of the cabinet, listening rather than seeing as Lois went to the fridge to get the milk.

"I told your Mom that I would get all the details out of you about Lana and so she said that we should be there by six."

He looked at the clock, "Lois, it's only 4."

"I know. I figured this would take awhile," she said matter-of-factly, a smirk on her face as she watched Clark take the milk from her and make her tea exactly how she liked it. She took the mug gratefully and looked him in the eyes.

Clark drew a sigh, resigning himself to the fact that both his mother and Lois were going to get the information out of him somehow or other. Add in the fact that he had as good as told Lois that she would be present for what was going to be his first real flying session as Clark, and not Kal-El and he could only come to one conclusion: it was not a good day to be Clark Kent.

"Alright, fine," he relented, knowing this had been coming since the moment he had stepped into the Talon hours ago. "But we should probably sit down for this."

Lois smiled, following Clark into her living room and sitting down on her couch. "Your Mom will be pleased that I didn't have to beat it out of you."

Clark simply glared at her, "Lois, do you want to hear this or not?"

"I'm shutting up now. See?" she said, taking a sip of her tea. "I promise."

"Is that even possible?" he muttered, rolling his eyes as he took in the smug look that had settled over Lois's face.

"Hey!" she protested. "I can be quiet."

"Right."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Just get on with the story Smallville. I'm not getting any younger here and we've got a 6 o'clock appointment with one of your Mom's home cooked meals."

"Fine," he sat his mug of tea down on the coffee table in front of him and turned to the now silent Lois. "So I met her in Metropolis this morning after her classes were done for the day and we went back to her place…"

"Okay," Lois held up a hand, halting Clark's impending discussion of his love life-at least for a moment. "Tell me now if this story involves the Pink Princess, you and the horizontal mambo because if it does then please, give me the abridged version."

"It doesn't," he shot her an annoyed look. "We just talked."

"Good," she breathed a sigh of relief. "Please continue then."

"Well, I was trying to find the right way to tell her," he began anew, still smarting from Lana's reaction to his confession, "And finally, after a lot of stammering, I just decided to tell her everything."

Lois nodded, "The direct approach is most often the best approach."

"Except that it wasn't," he ran a hand through his hair and looked Lois in the eyes, backing up his negative statement with a shake of his head. He fell silent, formulating his next words and trying desperately to keep from breaking down. He hadn't been expecting abject rejection, but that's what he had gotten.

"What happened, Clark?" Lois asked gently as she watched the man that she had come to call her best friend (at least in her head anyways) struggle with his next words. In support, she put a hand down on top of his on the table.

"Well, after I'd finished, she went silent for awhile and then told me to leave. Said she needed some time to think about it and that maybe it would be best to take a break," he sighed, squeezing Lois' hand. "But the look in her eyes when she told me that was just horrible. I think I lost her Lois for good this time."

"Clark, she just wants a break. You gave her some heavy information to take in and I'm not surprised that she needs some time to think about it," she cleared her throat. She took a sip of tea, not only to help clear her throat but also to stifle any comments she had surrounding the irony that it had been the truth rather than lies that had been the catalyst for Lana and Clark's biggest break-up.

And they had had many, all of which they had bounced back from.

"YOU didn't need time to think about it," Clark said pointedly, breaking her out of her inner thoughts.

Lois smiled, shaking her head. "But A) I'm not Lana and B) I'm not dating you. If a guy I was having a relationship put something this heavy on me just like that and I was Lana, I would have problems with it too."

"So you're saying I shouldn't have told her everything at one time like that?"

"No," Lois drew a breath. "You did the right thing doing it that way. Better to get it all out of the way."

"Then why did she handle it so poorly?"

"Because she's Lana," Lois sighed, "I don't know what to tell you Clark. Lana just….is Lana and nothing you can do or say can change that." She took in the depressed look that had re-settled over his features after vacating the premises for the brief period of argument they had participated in. "Look, she just needs time to process. I'm sure in no time at all you'll be back in her dorm room doing God knows what."

He snorted negatively, casting her a weary look, "I'm not so sure about that."

"Hey," she reached a hand up to turn his head towards her. "It's going to be okay."

"Is it?" he brought a hand up to remove her own from his face. "Because from where I'm standing, things aren't looking like they're going to be okay. I told her everything Lois. EVERYTHING. I trust her, but if she goes to Lex about this…"

"Even the green meteor rock thing?" she interrupted, trying to lighten the mood now. She felt a brood emerging from Clark and she wanted to squash it before it emerged.

"Yes," he swallowed heavily.

"Even the RED meteor rock thing?"

He glared at her, "Yes."

Lois furrowed her brow playfully, "Really….cause that doesn't seem like relevant information to me. I mean, telling your girlfriend that you're an alien and you're one weakness is green meteor rock is one thing but telling her that you the red stuff makes you lose all inhibitions might be something I'd keep to myself. You never know when she might want to spike your orange juice. It's happened before after all…"

"How exactly does this round of questioning matter?" he asked, his annoyance beating back any sad feelings that he had remotely been beginning to feel through the haze of banter and humour that she had placed around them since she had come upstairs.

She shrugged, "It doesn't. I'm just trying to get you to stop feeling sorry about yourself. Bringing up embarrassing moments helps sometimes. Like, say, the time that you were under the influence of red meteor rock and got married," she paused for a moment, trying to gauge how much more she was going to have to say to Clark to wrench him out of his self made pit of despair that he so often crawled into whenever anything bad happened to his relationship with Lana Lang. "Or how about the time Pete put some of it into your pocket and you ended up making out with Chloe?"

Clark groaned, "Why did I ever let you talk me into telling you those stories?"

"Because you're just too weak to go against my powers of persuasion," she shrugged, smiling slightly as the depressed look on his face was replaced by anger and annoyance.

Mission accomplished.

Chloe would be so proud.

Her smile faded slightly, her teasing mood waning as she thought of her cousin. What would Chloe have said in this situation?

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" Clark broke her out of her inner musings.

"What?" she asked, having missed the last half of the question.

"You're thinking about her. Chloe."

She looked up into his face, smiling slightly again, "How'd you know?"

Clark shrugged, "You get that look on your face when you're thinking about her."

"And what look are we talking about?" Lois countered defiantly. "I don't have a look."

"Yes you do," he said, "its sad….wistful but not to the point that you'll cry."

"There'll be plenty of time for that after I'm done living my life Clark," Lois said wryly, "And weren't we talking about you?"

"We were," he nodded affirmatively, "But now we're talking about you."

"What if I don't want to talk about me?" she countered.

He shrugged, "It doesn't matter. I think I'm done with me tonight. We'll still talk about you whether you like it or not."

"Yeah but your girlfriend just dumped you," Lois pointed out. "I think that gives you the right to be the subject of conversation for the evening."

Clark shook his head negatively, "Not now. I'm done telling stories tonight. Besides, someone I trust very much told me that she was sure that Lana and I would be back together within the week and I can't see her again feeling sorry for myself, now can I?"

Lois stared at him, unconsciously squeezing his hand that she still held on to-the one she had been holding for most of their conversation-and started as she felt him return the squeeze.

He smiled, standing and pulling her up with him, "After dinner then? We'll interrogate you and then maybe we'll get back to me. Does that sound fair?"

"Yeah," she murmured, confused. "Why not now though? We've got time…"

"No we don't. Now come on, I have to practice some more and you're helping."

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was saying, forgetting that, even though she had realized a moment ago that she had been holding his hand throughout their entire conversation, she STILL hadn't let go-and neither had he.

"Clark, do you mean…."

He nodded, "I've got to start somewhere, don't I? If we go out towards the Kawatche caves we won't be seen. What do you say?"

"Let's go," she finally let go of his hand, going to the door and slipping her shoes on, followed by her coat.

She paused at the door, aware that Clark hadn't followed her yet, "Lois?" Clark asked quietly, still standing in the hallway.

She turned, "Yeah Smallville?"

"I just wanted to say thanks for listening to me about Lana. I know that you were doing it as much for yourself as you were for me, but I just wanted to say that it's helped."

She smiled, tossing his coat in his direction, "Just doing my best to fill my cousin's shoes. And you're welcome. Now let's go before we end up back on my couch brooding over our miserable lives."

Clark simply laughed, putting his coat on and following her out the door.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Closer**

Lois rolled her eyes as she watched Clark hover in the air from her spot sitting in the long grass close to the Kawatche caves. "Are you ready yet?"

He shot her an annoyed look and floated closer to her, "Do you want me to drop you? Because I probably will if you keep distracting me while I'm trying to practice."

"I'm sick of waiting. I want to fly Clark, and I want to fly now."

He lowered himself to the ground and walked up to her, an amused expression on his face, "Do you now?"

"Well I thought that was why we came out here and I've been waiting…."

"….a whole 20 minutes," Clark finished her sentence for her, consulting his watch before lifting his face to smirk at her.

"Lane's aren't known for their patience," she crossed her legs.

"Just their tempers."

"Hey! That's not true at all."

"Uh-huh."

"Okay fine, it is true but c'mon Clark! Back to the task at hand! You've had enough practice and I trust you implicitly. It's high time that you took a test drive with a real person instead of just yourself. What will you do in an emergency if you haven't tried it with a willing participant first?" Lois tried her best to look convincing. At this rate, Clark was going to chicken out and she was not going to get a chance to fly with him tonight.

He looked at her sceptically and then took pity on her as he saw from her expression that she was one step from begging. As much of an ego boost as that would be, Lois never asked for anything if she could help it, let alone begged.

"Alright," he reached a hand down and helped her up. He looked her in the eye, "You're sure about this?"

"Positive," she nodded and moved closer to him. "I've wanted to fly since I was a little girl but Daddy always got to the pilots on the base before I could and told them not to take me up. The closest I've been has been helicopters and commercial aircraft."

"This is going to be a lot different than either of those examples, you know."

"Hence the reason I'm making you do this, Smallville. Now cut the chit chat and take me up!"

He sighed, shaking his head wearily. It was no use fighting with Lois; she generally got what she wanted and this was no exception, "Okay, but the second something happens we're stopping, alright?"

"Absolutely. Now lift me up so we can get this show on the road, Smallville."

He rolled his eyes but did as he was told, lifting her up into his arms and feeling as she slipped her arms around his neck, "Don't move those, okay? Mom would never forgive me if I dropped you."

"Martha scares you that much, does she?" Lois did as she was told, tightening her grip around his neck.

"Let's just say I have a healthy fear and respect of my own mother and leave it at that," he murmured, concentrating on keeping them afloat. They were about ten feet in the air now but he didn't want to go much higher-even though he knew he could-with Lois in his arms. He hadn't been lying about his fear of his mother. Indeed, it was always his mother's voice in his head that had stopped him from making stupid choices since he was a young boy. It had never been just the moral compass she had helped to instil in him though; it was also the way she made him question what she would say if she knew he was doing something controversial.

"Well, fear's a good thing I think, at least in that context. To be completely honest, I'm a little afraid of your Mom too," Lois looked down, noting that they were only ten feet off the ground and it didn't look like they were getting any higher-or moving either. "Hey Smallville? Are you afraid of heights or something?"

"No," he furrowed his brow, confused. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I've been higher up on a ladder than this and the only reason I can determine that you would have for staying so close to the ground would be that you're afraid of heights."

"I'm not. Not anymore anyways. I'm just taking things slowly."

She shook her head, "You can stop that at any time. I'm not going to break and if, on the very off chance that you begin to fall, I'm going to put you between me and ground so you see? Nothing to worry about."

"Well, we can't go too far. Someone might see us," Clark went up another 20 feet. "What'd you have in mind?"

"How about to that tree and back?" she let go of his neck with one arm and pointed to the tree, sitting about a hundred metres away and close to the road. "Start out slowly. You need practice if you're going to fly me home tonight."

"Lois, I don't know, someone might see us…"

"Who?" she hooked her arm back around his neck, "We're in the middle of nowhere and I thought you told me that no one comes out here."

Clark looked around and drew a breath. Lois was right. It was growing dark-close to the dinner hour as it was-and no one was around. "Alright, let's do it."

Lois smiled, excited now, "There's that spirit of adventure. How fast are we going to go?"

He looked down at her and smiled speculatively, "How fast do you want to go?"

He didn't allow her to finish, instead choosing to race at a reasonably high speed to the tree, making her shriek in shock, before heading right back to where they started from, settling them back down on the ground next to the blanket that Lois had been sitting on.

"Fast enough for you?" he asked.

Lois wasn't paying attention though. Indeed, after she had gotten over the shock at suddenly flying through the air so fast that her ponytail had completely come out of the hair tie, she had immediately turned pale as she had caught sight of the one thing that this spot had purportedly assured she and Clark of: privacy.

As they had gotten to the tree, Lois had caught sight of Lex Luthor's car coming down the road towards them and, by the way the car looked like it was about to pull over, Lois strongly suspected that he thought he'd seen something. Now that they had arrived back at their point of origin, she could see that her hypothesis had been correct.

"Get down!" Lois murmured urgently, noting that it was dusk so Lex might not have seen too much but even if he had only seen a little and recognized who it was that could equal trouble for Clark.

"Why?" he asked, confused.

"Look over there," Lois stuck her head around the tree and pointed out Lex's car, now stopped on the side of the road, door opened and Lex sitting in the front seat, talking rapidly on his cell phone. She took in Clark's panicked look and continued, "It's going to be okay. I don't think he saw enough to confirm it was you and I have a plan."

"Why don't I just fly us out of here?" Clark looked confused. He had no idea what Lois was planning.

Lois shook her head negatively, "No good. If I know Lex, he's already got a security team coming out to identify the unidentified flying man he thought he just saw and in case you've forgotten, your Dad's truck is still parked beside the cave. As soon as Lex starts to look around, he's going to realize that we were here because we left the truck behind. He'll put two and two together and the fact that we mysteriously disappeared from the area will confirm what he thinks he saw."

Clark nodded, "You're right. So what's the plan then?"

Lois looked him in the eye and grimaced, "Take your clothes off." She could not believe she was about to do this. When this plan had popped into her head a mere five seconds ago, she had rejected it but on re-evaluation of their options-which were few and far between-this was the best plan and at the very least they would have a funny story to bounce off each other later on.

"What?" he looked at her as if she had gone mad.

"Look Clark," she tore her t-shirt over her head and began to undo the buttons on her jeans. "There's no way you can get us into the cave without him seeing us so the 'we're out here looking at the caves' excuse is out. If he finds us out here in the middle of a field half dressed and….busy….then he's not going to suspect that it was you playing Peter Pan a moment ago. He's just going to think that you and I have been screwing each other and really? In this case? I think that's the better option than coming out of the 'I'm an alien' closet you've been living in. Tell me now though, because if you want him to know you can fly than by all means, come up with your own plan" she hissed, reaching to take off her running shoes and socks before tearing her jeans off her body and haphazardly throwing them in a pile. She inwardly thanked whatever urge she had had to place the blanket partially protected from the road by an outcropping of rock in the field. They would have a minute more than they would have had to prepare for the staged love scene they were about to put on for Lex.

Clark gulped as he watched Lois undress in front of him and reached for his own t-shirt, pulling it over his head and reaching down to deal with his own shoes and socks. Lois was right; this was the best option for convincing Lex that he hadn't been the flying man that he might have seen. He paused as he got to the buttons on his jeans. Was this naked enough for this?

Lois rolled her eyes at his hesitance and reached for the buttons, undoing them and slipping the zipper down, "It's not like I haven't seen it before Smallville. Get rid of them and then get down there on the blanket. Lex is not going to believe this if you're still wearing pants."

"Right," he sighed, taking his pants off, leaving him in only boxers. He sat down on the blanket next to Lois.

She drew a breath and shook her head at Clark's hesitance, "How close is he?"

Clark focussed in on Lex's footsteps, now about a hundred paces or so away from them if his calculations were correct, "I'd say about 30 seconds or so at the rate he's going."

Lois nodded her head, "Alright then. Let's give him a show, Smallville, and pray that this works because I don't want to have to kiss you for nothing."

And with that, she hooked a leg over his body and straddled his waist, pushing him down into the blanket and kissing him urgently.

Five seconds later she growled in frustration and broke their kiss. Lex was not going to buy this if he remained as still and unresponsive as he was being, "You could try getting into this, Clark. Pretend I'm Lana or something." She grimaced, "On second thought, don't. That's gross." She sighed, "This can't just be physical though. We've been friends awhile and Chloe's gone now. It's believable that you and I have crossed a line and have to come out here to keep it from the world but for this to look real, you have to believe that lie. If you believe it, then Lex will believe it and right now, I'm not feeling that you're believing this. Prove to me that you believe this."

"Lois, shut up," Clark rolled his eyes, sick of being patronized and now more than ready to make Lex believe this. He leaned forward and kissed her hard, running a hand up over her back and bringing her down to the blanket next to him. He reversed their positions and pushed himself down on top of her, feeling as she followed his lead and brought a leg up to rest over his own, her hands settling on his upper back as she returned his kisses.

This was less of a hardship than Lois had thought it would be. Clark Kent, for all that he annoyed her in real life, was one hell of a good kisser in this dream world they were weaving for Lex. Truth be told, he was a good kisser in real life too but she wouldn't ever admit that to him. Her heart beat faster as his hand moved from her back to trail down her side, touching her sensitive abdomen before grabbing her thigh and moving her leg up to settle higher on his own. The world around them dimmed and for a good 20 seconds she almost found herself believing that she and Clark had, as the story she had told him to believe said, turned to each other over Chloe's death first in friendship and now in something more. Of course they wouldn't have been able to tell anybody because of Clark's relationship with Lana but meeting under the guise of 'study' in her apartment as an excuse for his girlfriend or, for his parents, the excuse of 'flying practice' out near the Kawatche Caves, was perfectly acceptable. They were friends after all….

Lois gradually came out of this dream world at the clearing of a throat. She opened the eyes she hadn't realized that she had closed and looked up at the smirking form of Lex Luthor standing over them. "Clark," she hissed, pushing him away from her and knowing by the dazed look on his face that he had gone as far into the dream world as she had.

He got off of Lois, reaching over for his jeans and standing, slipping them on over his boxers before facing Lex. He tossed Lois her shirt as he did so and tried not to notice that she had to do up her bra. He had done what she had told him and 'believed' what was happening so much that somehow it must have come undone.

"Lex, what are you doing out here?" he asked, trying to calm his body. He was terrified that Lex wouldn't believe what he had seen and he hoped that this fear just came off as sexual tension leftover from his encounter with Lois.

"I could ask the same of you," Lex's smirk grew wider, "How long has this been going on?"

Clark shifted uncomfortably and prayed that he could get through this without messing up. It was true that his skills at lying had gotten better over the years but that didn't mean that he was good at it, "A while."

Lex nodded, "Well I'm sorry to interrupt. I thought I saw something….rather extraordinary and so I pulled over and noticed your truck. Didn't know what would bring you out here but….I guess I do now. Does Lana know?"

Oh God. Clark hadn't thought of Lana. He blushed, looking genuinely ashamed, "No. Lois and I just sort of happened but….it's nothing serious."

"Looked pretty serious to me," Lex said, crossing his arms, "You didn't happen to see anything when you were out here, did you?"

"We were a little…preoccupied," he murmured, "Why?"

Lex shook his head, "No reason," he said in a way that Clark knew meant that Lex was lying to him. No matter though. All he and Lois had to do know was get Lex to leave and get back to the farm as soon as possible. As for Lana, well, she knew his secret now so explaining why he and Lois had had to do what they had to do wasn't going to be very complicated. He and Lois had had their reasons for their little 'encounter' in the grass after all…

"Well," Clark said uncomfortably, "I guess Lois and I will be heading back to town then. If you thought you saw something, I'm guessing a security team isn't far behind and it's probably unsafe out here anyways."

"And you'd be correct," Lex said with a smile, "But don't worry Clark. I'm sure it was just a trick of the light. I'll call them off and be on my way. You and Lois just…..go back to whatever it was you were doing. Oh, and Clark?"

"What?" Clark watched as Lex turned and began to walk away.

"Don't worry. I won't tell Lana."

And with that, Lex walked away, leaving Clark with his thoughts.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Awkward Topics**

Clark turned back to Lois, watching as she put her shirt on and reached for her pants.

"That went well," she sighed, standing up and slipping her jeans on matter-of-factly.

Clark raised an eyebrow incredulously, catching the t-shirt she threw him and shaking his head. He could not believe he had let Lois talk him into this kind of a stunt. Now Lex thought that he was-and had been-cheating on Lana and that, he knew, was going to do nothing to help him gain back his relationship with her. He was broken out of his thoughts by Lois' voice as she continued to talk.

"Next time try to use less tongue, okay Smallville?" she smiled at him teasingly, and did up her belt.

He froze, "Next time! Less tongue! That's all you can say, 'next time try to use less tongue!'" Clark slipped his t-shirt on before sitting down on the blanket to deal with his socks and shoes. He shook his head. Sometimes Lois could be so oblivious to what was important. Their 'form' in the charade was not as important as the ramifications that Lex 'finding' them in this field would bring about.

"Well, what do you want me to say?" she sat down next to him. "How about, 'your form was good, but your dismount needed work….' Does that work for you? Besides, you DID use too much tongue and that's a fact. I don't know how Lana likes it but honestly…."

He looked at her. Had she not heard what Lex had said to him? "That's exactly it Lois; it shouldn't matter what you think. Were you not listening to Lex at all?"

"What was I supposed to be hearing?" Lois looked at him as if he had gone nuts. "Fill me in on the details, Clark, because I'm stumped on what your point is. Honestly, it's no wonder you and Lana gravitate towards each other so often. You're both over-emotional over-thinkers."

"The point," Clark interrupted, putting his last shoe on and standing, offering a hand to Lois who had just finished with her own shoes, "Is that he's going to tell Lana what happened between the two of us out here and she's going to believe it."

Lois let herself be helped up before turning to fold up the blanket. Clark moved to take one edge of it, helping her to fold it up.

She rolled her eyes, "Clark, she's not going to care that you and I pretended to have foreplay in a field when she knows the circumstances behind it."

"Or not," Clark shook his head, watching as Lois finished with the blanket, slung it over her arm and began to walk alongside him to the car.

Lois stopped as they reached the truck, going to the passenger side and getting in before looking Clark directly in the eye from his seat behind the wheel, "You honestly think she'd believe that there was something going on between you and me? Even now after…..everything's that happened….we're friends, nothing more. Can you honestly see the two of us having any kind of relationship at all? Even one that revolved solely around sex?"

"I know that, and you know that," Clark tamped down the sudden feeling of disappointment he felt. Surely she had felt the….whatever it was….that had flared up between them for those brief moments when they had been kissing.

With too much tongue apparently, he reminded himself, and suddenly that feeling of disappointment went away.

"Then why doesn't she know that?" Lois crossed her arms and sat back in her seat as Clark started the truck and backed them out onto the road.

"I don't know. She's very…suspicious sometimes," he shook his head, mulling over all the times that the two of them had gone possessive on the other. In actuality, he realized, that part of their relationship comprised about half of what they had together. He continued in an attempt to forget the statistic he had just come up with in his mind. "I've stopped asking questions. Sometimes, it's better not to."

Lois shook her head in confusion, "See, now, that doesn't make any sense. How exactly do you two maintain a relationship if you don't ask each other questions about one another? You'll never know each other if you're both too afraid-or confused-to ask the other person a simple question. There's such a thing as too much mystery, Smallville…"

He looked at her, "Well, we're not in a relationship now because I chose to end the mystery, remember?"

"Right," Lois uncrossed her arms and turned in her seat to look at Clark as he drove. "I forgot about that. Have you seriously thought about a life without Lana, Clark? It might do you some good."

He ignored her last comment, instead choosing to address the issue of Lana and the incident he and Lois were just coming off of, "Well, it's going to be an unforgettable fact once she finds out about this little incident. She'll never accept me for who I am if she thinks I'm cheating on her."

Being a woman who believed in monogamous relationships, Lois found herself admiring what Clark had just said, instead of quickly finding the one thing she disagreed with in his words, isolating it, and making an argument out of it.

"Lois?" he asked after a moment, confused as to why he hadn't immediately got an argument out of her.

She looked up at him, "Hmmm?"

He raised an eyebrow in her direction, "Aren't you going to….I don't know, fight with me on that point, maybe tell me how needy I am?"

"No," she shook her head, "I agree with you."

Clark let out a short laugh, "Are you serious? YOU agree with ME?"

She glowered at him, "You better take a mental picture of this moment; it won't happen again."

"Oh, I know it won't. I just can't believe…."he shook his head as if to clear it. "You actually agree with me?"

Lois shrugged, "Monogamy is essential in any serious relationship, Clark, even one as screwed up as yours and Lana's. It's admirable that you feel so highly about it, although personally, I think your eggs are in the wrong basket. You could do better."

"Maybe so, but I love her, Lois," he said quietly, "That's not going to go away overnight."

They paused, both thinking about his last statement for a moment before Lois broke the silence with her voice, "What were we talking about again?"

"Monogamy and I was just about to get to the issue of my parents," Clark spoke up.

"Right," she nodded her head, "Well, continue on Smallville. I'm not going anywhere."

"I was going to say that it's a small town, Lois. Lex will tell Lana what he saw tonight and he'll very likely be at the Talon when he does it because he knows that someone will overhear and before you know it, everyone will know, I'll be labelled a cheater and you'll be getting questions about your own morality from random people on the street. As for my parents, well, they don't think highly of sex before marriage."

"Well, I knew that," Lois scowled. "Your Mom gave me a lecture about A.C. that one time, remember? First off though, A, we didn't actually do anything and we're going to tell them about this incident so they won't have time to jump to conclusions, and B, what exactly do they think about your relationship with Lana then? You two have had sex."

A small blush came over Clark's face. He had hoped never to have this conversation with Lois but here it was. He inwardly prepared himself for the next few minutes and took a look at his surroundings; they had about five minutes until they reached the farm and even Lois was tactful enough not to ask him things about his sex life in front of his parents.

"Well, yeah…." He trailed off, not knowing how to tell Lois that they hadn't actually had sex with each since those few weeks when he hadn't had his powers.

"And you've had sex lately, right?"

Clark went silent.

"Clark?" she leaned forward to look into his face as he steadfastly paid attention to the road-the road that currently had no traffic but themselves on it and therefore needed little attention paid to it. "Clark? You have had sex lately, right?"

He winced, feeling his body give a sympathetic twitch, "Not…lately."

Lois furrowed her brow, trying to discern what he meant with the tone of stilted voice he was using. Her mind began to draw lines between all the little things she had learned about Clark and the things he wasn't telling her, "So when was the last time?"

Clark mumbled something that sounded like '10 months ago' and Lois' eyes widened in shock, "I'm sorry. Did you say 10 months ago?"

"So what if I did?" his blush deepened and he still refused to look at her.

"Well no wonder she dumped you. I mean, alien or not, a girl has needs and just….10 months? Seriously?" she looked at him and sighed, "Did you ever talk to Chloe about this?"

"Once," he murmured, the blush still on his face. "And she asked me not to talk about this kind of stuff with her again. Something about crossing a line..."

"Oh," Lois crossed her arms again, "Well, I don't have those sorts of qualms, or lines regarding this subject. Talk to me, Smallville, I'm listening."

"I'm not talking to you about this," he replied, daring to look at Lois before turning his attention back to the road.

"Why not?" Lois demanded, "Am I not a good listener? Did I not just let you stick your overeager tongue in my mouth to distract Lex from finding out that you can fly?"

"Can you stop referring to what happened in that field? Or my tongue for that matter?"

Lois pulled a straight face, "Okay. Let's talk about your penis instead."

"LOIS!" his blush returned full force.

"WHAT!" she threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "You're not using it and I'd like to know why. I'm your friend Clark, you can tell me these things. Does this have to do with you E.T. issues?"

Lois could have sworn that Clark's jaw began to tick at this last comment.

A moment passed and then…."No. Yes. Kind of."

"Well which is it? Make a decision Smallville."

He paused, collecting himself, inwardly wondering why he was about to tell her what he was about to tell her. This could only end badly…"Yes."

"So, what?" she asked, leaning back in her seat again. "Are you afraid you're going to hurt her or something?"

He looked over at her in amazement, "How do you do that?"

Lois stared back at him blankly, watching as he turned his eyes back to the road, "Do what?"

"Know exactly what I'm going to say before I say it?"

Lois sighed sarcastically, "I'm reading your mind, Clark. That's how." She let out a laugh as he glared at her. "Seriously though, that's the only reason you'd stop, I assume. You love her too much to want to hurt her and….you did enjoy it, right?"

He didn't answer but Lois took the fact that he went a deeper shade of pink as an indication that she was right.

Good. At least she knew he had that in common with Earth men.

"Well okay then," she sighed. "So is it just the strength thing that you're concerned about, or does this have to with your other powers too? Chloe once told me that heat vision thing has a hormonal connection with you. Is that true? Are you afraid of loosing control?"

"I don't know why this is any of your business, but yeah."

"And there's been no…..experimentation….with this particular facet of your powers?"

Clark shot her a look, "No. It's too dangerous."

Lois let out a chuckle of laughter, "Smallville, I refuse to believe that you would be 'deadly' to someone in bed. Powers or not, you're too gentle of a guy." She cleared her throat, "So what are you going to do then?"

"About what?" He asked, still trying to determine in his own mind if being 'too gentle of a guy' was meant as a compliment, or an insult. With Lois, he was never really sure.

"About Lana, sex, Lex's new job as a gossip queen….everything,"

Clark sighed, "I don't know. Right now," he turned the truck into his parents driveway. "We're going to share what happened with my parents' so that when someone asks them about you and I they will know that we did it to prevent Lex from finding out my secret. As for Lex and Lana, I hope he doesn't say anything, but I'm sure he will because that's just the type of person that Lex is. And Lana……"

"Will just have to be a big girl and deal with it," Lois finished for him, waiting for him to come to a stop before opening her seat belt and reaching for the door. "We'll talk more about this after dinner though. I'm starving."

And with that, she got out of the truck and stood in the driveway, waiting for Clark to come out and join her. When he did so, she started walking towards the house, Martha Kent's home cooking on her mind.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Nudity and a Slap to the Face**

"So…..you and my son, naked in a field…."

Lois shot Martha Kent a look as she finished preparing a cappuccino, "Not naked, thank you very much."

"But still," Martha stifled a chuckle. "This is something I hardly expected to hear about over dinner last night."

"Well, if Clark hadn't of drawn so much attention to himself with the whole flying thing, Lex wouldn't have seen us."

Martha paused in her efforts putting the tray for table 3 together to look at Lois with a raised eyebrow, "I thought you were the one who told him to go higher and faster."

Lois drew a frustrated breath. She had been hoping that Clark's Mom would've forgotten that part.

The older woman let out the laugh she had been holding in at the uncharacteristically frustrated and helpless look on Lois' face before taking the now finished cappuccino and placing it on the tray. She handed the tray to Lois with a pointed look, conveying her thoughts on the likelihood that the incident last night had been caused entirely by her son.

Lois scowled and took the tray, knowing that the look she had just been given was meant to tell more than just 'take this tray to table 3' and not liking it.

With this in mind, she turned to take the tray to the aforementioned table, hoping that the distance she was about to place between herself and Clark's mother would be enough to have the subject be changed by the time she got back.

She had just put the coffee down for table 3 when the sound of the door opening and closing abruptly made her raise her head questioningly. She drew a deep breath as she watched Lana Lang enter, a stormy look on her face as she searched the room for something.

And then found it.

Lois' eyes widened as she watched Lana walk quickly in her direction. She hadn't expected Lex to work as fast as he apparently had, or even that, once told that her ex-boyfriend had been supposedly cheating on her, that Lana would care. She HAD broken up with Clark after all, and not the other way around.

This didn't seem to matter though as Lana crossed the room like a jealous woman and slapped Lois hard across the face, making Lois drop the empty tray she had been holding.

From the corner of her eye, she watched as Martha Kent's jaw dropped, and from the rest of her eyes, she watched as the room went still and silent.

"Owww!" Lois broke the silence, "What the hell was that for?"

"How long?" Lana ignored the question, crossing her arms and making no effort to keep her voice down. "How long have you been having sex with my boyfriend?"

Lois let out a gust of nervous laughter, "Lana, maybe we should talk about this outside, or even in the back room. I'm sure Martha wouldn't mind letting us use her office to…."

"No," Lana shook her head adamantly. "You're going to answer me now. I refuse to be lied to anymore. How long has this been going on?"

"Lana," Martha said gently, having come out from behind the counter and came to stand next to Lois. "Lois is right. This isn't the place to do this."

Lana drew an impatient breath and looked between Mrs. Kent and Lois before nodding reluctantly, "Fine."

Lois nodded, glaring at Martha as she watched her lips fight a smile. Once she got through this, she was going to find one of those green rocks and torture Clark slowly and painfully….

Across from her, Lana wasted no time in crossing the room and disappearing into Martha's office.

"Your son is so incredibly dead," Lois murmured into Martha's ear before following Lana diligently, closing the door after her and listening as the silence that had fallen over the Talon suddenly burst into conversation. She would never admit this to Clark, but he had been right when he told her about small towns and their ability to spread news a person really didn't want spread around.

By tonight, she was sure that all of those women Clark had told her about were very likely going to take her aside and give her a moral dressing down for breaking up Smallville's favourite couple.

"So talk," Lana threw herself down on the couch and crossed her arms, glaring at Lois from across the room. "How long has this been going on for? Lex told me you and Clark looked pretty cozy when he saw you practically naked in that field last night."

"We weren't naked!" Lois threw up her hands and leaned against Martha's desk. "Why does everyone keep saying we were?"

"Maybe because you're lying?" Lana continued to glare at her.

Lois rolled her eyes, "Lana, get over yourself. I'm not sleeping with Clark. I DID kiss him last night but that was as far as it went."

Lana's glare took on a hint of confusion, "So Lex interrupted you. I'm so very sorry….

"Well, I wouldn't have even had to do that if you hadn't broken up with him the way you did. He's seriously messed up over you and the way you handled finding out about his secret."

"Wait, you know about that?" Lana looked up, alarmed.

"Well yeah," Lois rolled her eyes again. "Who do you think he consulted about telling you?"

Lana shook her head, her confusion mounting, "I don't get it. So you two aren't…"

"No!" Lois burst out flatly, "Never in a million years would I sleep with your boyfriend. Clark was practicing flying in the field last night and I talked him into taking me up. Lex showed up somewhere in the middle, saw us and stopped. We did what we had to do to keep his secret safe."

Lana looked at Lois suspiciously, trying to gauge from her face if she was telling the truth or not.

"Lex told you about this, didn't he?" Lois murmured softly, crossing her arms.

Lana nodded, "Yeah. He called me over to the mansion and told me this morning."

"What I don't get," Lois continued, "Is why you cared enough to come over here to call me out over it. I thought you broke up with him."

"I did…..and I didn't," Lana said in a low voice. "We're on a break."

Lois let out a short laugh, "And what exactly do you think this break will accomplish? His powers make him the man he is. They're a part of him and you can't change that."

"I know," Lana replied after a moment, "I handled it badly. I needed time to process what I was feeling and it ended badly."

Lois snorted aloud.

"Alright," Lana acquiesced, "It ended worse than badly. The fact of the matter is that I've changed my mind."

Lois pursed her lips and mentally going over the situation that was looking more complicated every minute. Lex couldn't find out about Clark's powers but Lois wanted Clark to be happy. Being with Lana would make him happy, but it would probably expose his powers to Lex who most certainly would be curious about why Clark sleeping around hadn't broken up him and Lana like Lois was sure he wanted it to. Lex had had a thing for Lana for years...

"Well then we have a problem," she said finally.

Lana furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head, "How so?"

Lois shrugged, "Well, Lex just told you that Clark has been cheating on you and not only that, but most of Smallville will know by this evening about it because of your little stunt out there."

Lana had the decency to blush at this point, "I'm sorry about that by the way."

Lois shook her head, "Its fine. I would have done the same if I were in your place."

They were both silent a moment, concern for Clark bringing them together for the moment.

"So what happens now?" Lana broke the silence a moment later.

Lois sighed, "That's up to you. If you're so willing to accept Clark for who he is, than you have to ask yourself: how willing are you to guard his secret? Lex'll know that something's up if you start dating Clark again after what just happened out there."

"And I want to help him," Lana murmured after a moment, "I agree with you that Lex can't find out about Clark's secret. It's too dangerous but….."

A slow smile began to grow on her face as she trailed off.

"But what?" Lois looked at her in confusion, a feeling of wariness inexplicably making it's way up her spine.

"But he's not going to suspect anything if it looks like you and Clark are 'together' in that way," Lana formed air brackets in the air for her 'together.'

"Oh no," Lois shook her head adamantly, "Absolutely not."

"Why not? It's perfect."

"No it is not perfect!" Lois got up from the desk and plopped herself down next to Lana on the couch.

Lana's smile only got bigger, "Oh but it is. If you two pretend that something's going on, then Lex will never suspect that….."

"You and Clark have gotten back together? That's assuming he wants you back," Lois raised an eyebrow in Lana's direction.

Lana looked hurt for a moment before nodding. She had been trying to push that thought to the back of her mind.

"I know. I'm hoping he forgives me for the way I handled learning about his powers."

Lois rolled her eyes. Of course he would, but she wasn't going to be telling Lana that anytime soon. At the end of the day when it came to Lana Lang, Clark was a poor fool in love.

"Look, IF you and he reconcile and IF he's content with seeing you in secret then we'll talk about any acting that Clark and I might have to do," she shook her head, not believing that she was considering helping Lana Lang and Clark Kent get back together. Wasn't she the one who had suggested that Clark find a way to live without Lana in his life? This was just an indication of how close she and Lana's ex had gotten since Chloe's death because before that, Lois would barely have paused to tell Lana exactly where she could shove her 'perfect' plans.

Now the only thing she could think about was what would make Clark, the man who had quickly and unexpectedly become her best friend, the happiest.

Lana looked at Lois gratefully and in one smooth move, gave her a hug, "Thank you so much, Lois."

"I didn't say yes, I said maybe," Lois broke away, speaking in a firm voice now. Lana, in Lois' opinion, was not giving the fact that she had broken Clark's heart in a few sentences enough thought and she couldn't agree to this without pushing that fact home.

Lana nodded and waited for Lois to speak.

The older woman drew a breath, glad that she had Lana's attention, "You can't do this to him again. This is who he is and you have to accept it."

Lana nodded her head again and opened her mouth to speak again.

"I'm not finished," she said succinctly, effectively sucking all words that Lana might have said out of her mouth. "And keep in mind that I'm saying this not just on my behalf, but on Chloe's because, were she here, she would want me to tell you this. If you hurt him again, I WILL do something to you that will hurt you very much and I'll have no regrets doing it. In fact, I'll probably enjoy it. And if you decide to tell his secret to anyone, the same rule applies. You won't know when or how, but I will hurt you. Badly."

Lana didn't say a word.

"But you're not going to be doing that, are you?" Lois continued, content that the fear in Lana's face was an indication of how well her last point had been driven home.

"No," the younger shook her head.

"Good," Lois stood, smiling down at her in satisfaction. "I hope you two kids work things out then. You have my complete support."

She moved towards the door, opening it slightly, "Now let's get out of here before we feed the rumor mills anymore."

"Yeah," Clark's voice startled Lois and she looked around at the doorway where the man in question was currently standing. "That might be a good thing."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: White Lies**

Clark looked between the two women standing in his mother's office and raised an eyebrow, "Do either of you want to explain to me what you did to make every woman in the Talon look at me the way they are?"

"And what way would that be?" Lois smirked, stepping back to let him into the room.

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, "Like I'd just shot a puppy in front of them or something. Now what's going on?"

Lois shrugged and tried to look her best to look innocent, "Nothing. Why?"

He rolled his eyes, "Right. What happened?"

Lana blushed and stepped forward, "It was my fault."

He tilted his head in her direction and crossed his arms, "How is it your fau…." His eyes widened as the realization of what had happened suddenly popped into his head, "Does this have anything to do with something Lex said to you?"

"Maybe…"

Lois rolled her own eyes now as she watched the couple in front of her verbally tiptoe around each other. If this was the way they communicated, no wonder they had broken up…

"So what'd you say?" Clark continued, oblivious to Lois' frustration.

"Well," Lana hesitated, "It wasn't what I said so much as what I did…."

Lois, impatience getting the better of her, decided to skip right to the chase, "She slapped me and the accused me of sleeping with her boyfriend."

"Lois!" Lana looked at her, an annoyed look on her face, "I wanted to tell him."

"Oh yeah? When? This is what got the two of you into trouble in the first place. Learn to communicate. Please."

Clark shot her a look.

"What?" Lois crossed her arms and sat down on the couch innocently, "It's true."

Clark shook his head, unwilling to admit that Lois was right, and turned his attention back to Lana, "So why are you two in here then?"

"Plotting," Lois shrugged, examining her nails.

"Lois!" Lana finally snapped. Her communication issues were nothing compared to Lois' tact issues…

Lois looked at her pointedly, "Stop and ask yourself, Lana; were you actually going to tell him or were you going to make him believe that plotting wasn't exactly what we were doing in here?"

Lana didn't answer.

"That's what I thought," she sighed before patting the seat next to her, inviting both Clark and Lana to sit down.

She wasn't surprised when they both hesitated.

Lois paused and then…"Fine. I'll just be going then."

Clark looked confused, "Wait. What were you two talking about in here?"

Ignoring her ex-boyfriend's confusion, Lana took matters into her own hands; she had a feeling that if she didn't do this this way, that her first big break-up with Clark was going to be her last, "Lois, wait," she called out to her.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Clark turned incredulous eyes to Lois as a sobbing Lana left the room, "What just happened?"

Lois looked out into the Talon and smirked as she watched the patrons follow Clark's Ex out the door with their eyes. She would give Lana one point of admiration; she certainly knew how to pull off an exit.

Even one that came out of nowhere as it probably had for Clark.

Continuing to look out the door, she answered did her best to ease his fears, "You just got back together with your girlfriend."

Clark raised an eyebrow questioningly. He had no idea how his ex leaving the room in tears after telling him, loudly and with the door half open that she never wanted to see him, or Lois, again meant that they had gotten back together. On the contrary, it made him believe the opposite, "Excuse me?"

Lois rolled her eyes and slammed the door to the office shut, "The town thinks we're lovers Clark, and Lex needs to believe that it's true if you're going to stand any chance of keeping your secret a secret, alright?"

"Lois, what are you talking about? In case you hadn't noticed, Lana and I just broke up for good. It doesn't matter what the town or Lex thinks anymore; it's over."

She shook her head and flopped back down onto the couch she had gotten up from moments earlier when Lana had started getting 'emotional,' "No, it's not."

Clark sat down next to Lois, albeit with fewer flounces than she had used, "I don't understand."

She let out a groan and reached into her pocket for her cell phone, "Call her."

"What?"

"Just," she interrupted him impatiently, holding the cell phone in front of him insistently, "Call her."

Clark eyed her speculatively. After a moment of indecision, he took the phone from her hand, opened it, and dialed Lana's number.

Lois watched as he had a short conversation with his 'Ex,' his face deepening in its confusion before breaking into a look of relief as he apparently heard what he wanted (or so Lois assumed; at this point, she wasn't even sure if Clark knew what he wanted let alone what Lana wanted from him).

Finally, with a sigh and a nod, he said good-bye and hung up, handing the phone back to Lois.

Lois lounged back into the couch, watching Clark with smug satisfaction, "So? Anything you want to say at this point?"

"I just got back together with my girlfriend," a smile began to break out over Clark's face and Lois rolled her eyes.

"So what did you mean earlier when you were talking about Lex seeing us in that field the other night?" Clark murmured into the quiet room after a moment.

Lois shrugged, leaning her head back against the couch and sighing. She couldn't believe that she was going along with this crazy plan…"Exactly what I said; if the town thinks we're lovers, than Lex isn't going to assume that we're hiding something."

Clark simply stared at her a moment, his brow furrowed and a confused look on his face, "Lois, are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?"

She cringed, raising her head and meeting his gaze, "Don't think I'm harboring any deep seated emotions for you Clark. It was Lana's idea, not mine."

He sat back against the couch, raising an eyebrow in disbelievement, "Right…..so let me get this straight then; Lana suggested that you and I pretend to be lovers so that she and I can be together."

"That's right."

"Why can't we just get back together? Why all the sneaking around?"

Now it was Lois' turn to raise an eyebrow, "Because Lana wouldn't just get back together with you if you and I had really been having sex in that field."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh please. You really think that if you and I had sex-even if it was only a one time thing-that Lana would take you back?"

"Well….."

"No Clark. She wouldn't and you want to know why? Because she knows that you don't treat sex lightly. If you had been having sex with anyone and you weren't on Red K or something else, it wouldn't be because you simply had an itch to scratch," she sighed, taking in the flash of recognition in Clark's eyes before continuing. "And that should rightfully scare her because, as you told me the other night, you and she haven't had sex since you were human. Anything you did with anyone else would just be an indication that there was something wrong with your relationship and that would hurt her too much for her to just take you back. Now do I need to keep talking or can we move on?"

Clark breathed a breath out of his nose and sighed. He hated it when she was right…

"Clark? Time's a wasting. We have to figure this out now and get out of the office otherwise people are going to start talking."

He looked over at her, coming to a decision, "I thought that's what we wanted them to do."

She raised an eyebrow. Smallville was finally growing a pair apparently… "So you're in then?"

"For the Lex factor alone, I would seriously consider this but to be able to get back together with Lana….I can't say no to that."

She nodded, "Alright then."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "I've never done this before…"

She furrowed her brow in confusion, "Are you talking about the pretending to be lovers thing or something else? Because I hate to disappoint you but pretending is as far as I'm going with you."

He shook his head, "No, not that! I mean, sneaking around with someone for real."

"Well, not sneaking so much as acting like we're sneaking," Lois murmured reassuringly as she reached for a pen and paper from the end table. "And as for you and Lana, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it."

"What's that for?" he pointed at her pen and paper.

She shrugged, "Taking notes. We have to decide where and when we're going to show off this 'physical relationship' of ours. Now I was thinking that you and Lana could use the barn, or even my apartment for meeting up but that would mean that you and I would have to set something up so that Lex didn't find out."

"Lois," Clark said quietly as he watched her begin to write down ideas.

"And I know that you're a little rusty at this but I'm sure between the two of us we can come up with a way to act like we're all over each other without actually being all over each other. No offence or anything, Smallville, but I'd rather not have to kiss you more than is absolutely necessary. Now then, where were we…."

"Lois," Clark said a little bit louder now. "Would you just stop for a moment?"

"Why?" Lois looked up, "I thought this is what you wanted. I mean, I really don't care about what Lana wants but you….you seem to want her and you also want to keep your secret safe. This is the most efficient way of achieving both objectives."

"But does this mean that we…."

"Are going to have to pretend to be having sex with each other on a fairly regular basis for this to work correctly?" she quirked her eyebrow in his direction, "Yeah, pretty much."

"So this planning we're doing isn't just for Lana and I, is it?"

She shook her head, "Nope. It's for you and I too. We have to think of places where many witnesses will see us and assume that you've moved on to another girl, therefore ensuring that you and Lana won't be found out. Now then…..any deeply buried fantasies you want to act out for the benefit of your incredibly conservative small town?"

Clark blushed darkly and cleared his throat, feeling distinctly overwhelmed, "Lois, is this really necessary? I mean, I'm sure there's a way for Lex to…"

Lois threw down the notebook and groaned, "Clark, this is the same man who obsessively collected information about you and your family for years. Do you really think that if he has evidence that it was you in that field that he's going to just forget he saw it happening? I don't think so.

"You're going to find this hard to believe-God knows I do-but you cheating on your girlfriend with me is not a more believable story than you flying and Lex knows that. He's going to be watching your every move which, coincidentally, is exactly what we want."

"But….."

"No buts," she readjusted her arms, "You're just going to have to get used to making the town believe that we're fucking each other."

Clark looked her in the eye for a second before averting his gaze uncomfortably, "I wish you wouldn't call it that."

A snort of laughter escaped Lois, "Well what would you rather I call our fictional sex, Clark?"

He shrugged, "I don't know. Something else."

Lois smiled sympathetically, her friendship with Clark urging her to say her next words. There was still time to back out of this, after all, "You know, we don't have to do this. I'm sure-somehow-you and Lana could convince Smallville that she took you back. Worst case scenario, I'm labeled the scarlet woman and you're the reformed bad guy."

He shook his head, sitting down next to her on the couch, "No. You were right earlier when you said that Lex wouldn't believe that story. He wouldn't and what's more, neither would my parents."

She raised an eyebrow, "But your parents already know that Lex thinks he caught us in a cornfield together in the biblical sense."

"But Martha and Jonathon Kent wouldn't have raised their only son to cheat on his girlfriend without cause and that means that if you're going to help Lana and I, we're going to have to do this all the way."

For the first time since Lana had convinced her to do this, Lois paused and looked at Clark incredulously, "All the way?"

He nodded his head, "Yeah. I wouldn't have left Lana for you unless I had a good reason."

"Now wait," she stood up and began to pace. This was NOT what she had signed up for. She could pretend to be having sex with Clark; a few kisses, someone catching them in a carefully prepared and purposely awkward situation was easy but if Clark was saying what she thought he was saying than she was in trouble. Love, at least in Lois' experience, was a hell of a lot more complicated than sex ESPECIALLY when it came to faking it.

She cleared her throat, "I told Lana that I would pretend to be having a sexual relationship with you not….."

"Lois, you were right," Clark interrupted, standing up and watching as she paced. "In order to keep Lex from digging deeper into what he saw the other night, we need to give him a distraction and in order for me and Lana to be able to see each other while still keeping him in the dark about my powers, you and I might have to fake a relationship. And you were right about Lana not taking me back if I was cheating on her. She wouldn't because she knows me and apparently so do you; I don't take sex lightly and if I were to cheat on her, I would have a good reason."

He reached out with one arm and stopped Lois, forcing her to look at him, "A really good reason."

"A really good reason?" Lois winced.

"The ultimate good reason," a reluctant smile tilted his lips. He let go of her arm and in a single movement, sat back down and grabbed the notepad and pen that Lois had set down on the end table earlier. "Now then. How far did you get with your ideas here?"

"Clark," Lois protested. "Please."

"Lois, it's not going to much different than the original plan. This version is just going to require being seen in public a little more than you thought we were going to have to be," he smiled reassuringly at her. "Now are you going to help me or not?"

She breathed deeply and leaned back against the couch, crossing her arms, "Fine. But I'm only kissing you when it's absolutely necessary, alright?"

"Agreed," he nodded. "And for the record, it was your tongue that was out of control the last time we kissed, not mine. You might want to think about toning that down next time."

"Excuse me? MY tongue? I thought I made it clear that it was yours that was the problem….." she trailed off, yanking the pad of paper out of his hands.

Despite both of them knowing that the town would begin to talk if they spent too much time in the office together right now, neither emerged for another two hours.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Lying To Lex**

Clark looked up from his newspaper and watched as Lois fixed a coffee and handed it to the woman who had placed the order. His eyes widened as she purposely fumbled the paper cup she was picking up, spilling warm liquid on the floor-and onto Lois' white running shoes.

If he wasn't mistaken, the woman who had dropped the cup (and was now demanding that Lois make her another) had been a former cheerleader at Smallville High with Lana.

And she hadn't been the only one who had been coming into the Talon today and letting Lois know-both through actions and direct words-that they didn't appreciate her seducing the hometown-hero away from his girl-next-door. Or at least pretending that she had anyways...

He breathed out a weary sigh and got to his feet, ready to do or say something to make the situation a little easier for Lois. She was doing this for him, he knew, and while he knew that would entail some discomfort for her, this was far more than anything he wanted her to put up with.

Clark was stopped in his tracks by a warning glare from Lois who (he could tell) was already planning the many ways she was going to get back at him for getting her into this mess. With a raised eyebrow, he sat back down again, prepared now to let her handle this one by herself if only to protect himself from more of her scary looks. With this in mind, he picked up the newspaper he had been reading and returned to surreptitiously keeping an eye on the woman who was saving his relationship with his old girlfriend by pretending to be his new girlfriend.

Lois finished preparing the coffee, checked the lid, and handed it to the bitchy woman behind the bar. She smiled sweetly, purposely putting as much saccharine inflection into her words as she could muster under the circumstances, "You have a good day now."

The woman simply gave her a disgusted look and left.

Lois breathed out of her nose, trying to calm her anger to an acceptable level. This was only day one of this charade that she and Clark were putting on for Smallville and already she was getting sick of the dirty looks.

The spilled coffee on her white shoes hadn't helped matters either.

"You alright, Lois?" Martha Kent murmured from behind her, having witnessed both the exchange with the customer as well as the look that had passed between her son and his 'new girlfriend.'

"Oh yeah. You know how much I like coffee spilled on me."

"Lois…"

"I'm fine, Martha, really."

The older woman raised an eyebrow knowingly.

Lois rolled her eyes and began to turn back towards the counter, "Look, I'm fine. I think I can handle a little bitterness from the general population. And if that means letting a few people spill coffee on me than so be it," she lowered her voice so only Martha could hear it, "Besides, I'm foreseeing many years of gratefulness mixed with a healthy dose of guilt from your son and somehow this makes it all worth it.

"I'm thinking foot rubs; long ones. And maybe a couple years worth of voluntarily watching chick flicks and bringing me ice cream anytime I want. And let's not forget…" she turned and immediately went quiet, taking in who was now at the counter waiting to be served

Great. This was just what she needed.

She cleared her throat and found her voice, "What are you doing here?"

"What's with the attitude, Lois? Rough day?" Lex Luther drawled, a smug smile on his face.

She narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms, "To what do we owe the pleasure of your company today, Lex? Gouging and screwing the little guy with your big corporation get so boring you had to work from home today?"

"Close," he leaned against the bar and looked her in the eye, "But this has nothing to do with business actually; it's a personal call."

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow, "Well, much as I'd like to listen to what you have to say, this is a coffee shop, Lex, and I have customers to serve."

He turned around and looked behind him before turning back, "Doesn't look like there's anyone waiting right now and I won't take more than a few minutes of your time."

"Why doesn't that make me feel better?" she mused, looking at him pointedly. He stared back her, immoveable, clearly telling her with his eyes that he would get his answer-any answer actually-even if it meant paying for everyone's coffee in the shop, "Alright fine! You have until another customer comes up to be served. Now what'd I do to put myself on your radar this time?"

He shrugged, "It wasn't so much what you did, Lois, as who what you did affected."

She rolled her eyes for what seemed the umpteenth time this morning. Lex was forward all right but she hadn't expected him to take it upon himself to ream out the woman who had 'forced' the 'break-up' between Clark and Lana. She knew how he felt about Clark's 'ex-girlfriend' though, and there was too much in it for him not to do something about the new 'relationship' he had found out about and keep his mouth shut-Lana (for all he knew) was deeply upset and therefore would be looking for comfort.

Which she knew he was more than happy to provide.

Despite knowing this, she hadn't really expected him to come this far out of his way to talk to her about what he sounded like he was going to talk to her about. She inwardly braced herself for battle, knowing without a doubt that Clark's secret would depend on her performance in the next few minutes. She narrowed her eyes at him, "This is about Lana isn't it?"

"You expected me to talk to you about something else?"

"Hoped, actually," she glared at him now, pretending to be annoyed that everything seemed to be about Lana lately. Or at least pretending that she was pretending… "Not to be negative or anything but I'm really sick of hearing about Lana right now."

"Really? One would think-at least in this town-that sleeping with another person's boyfriend wouldn't give them the right to feel anything beyond guilt, least of all annoyan….. "

She cut him off before he could continue, easily falling into the role that Clark and she had outlined in the office the night before. Anger was bringing out the actress in her, it seemed. "Okay, stop. What Clark and I choose to do as two consenting adults is no one's business but our own, I really AM sick of hearing about Lana and, it may come as a shock to you, but I really don't care what this town thinks about me."

From the corner of her eye she watched as Martha made herself busy while at the same time, kept a close eye on what Lois and Lex were talking about.

Lex nodded, oblivious to the movement behind the counter, "Clark said it had been going on for awhile, Lois. I'm assuming Lana and he were still dating when it started."

"So?"

"So…." He looked at her pointedly. "I had to listen to Lana cry on the phone last night because of what you two did to her and I want to know why."

Lois had to stop the impressed look from popping onto her face. Lana, for all that she was an idiot when it came to Clark, was certainly taking care of her end of the masquerade. She shook her head, mindful that she too had a role to play-and despite her initial reservations about doing what she was about to do, she found herself already enjoying it.

In the end, she shot him a patronizing look, "It's cute that you're doing this. Really noble. Really. But you're wasting your time. There's no one reason why what happened happened. It just sort of did. And I can't explain why it started when Clark was still dating Lana. "

Lex leaned forward on the counter, "Try."

She threw up her hands, "What do you want me to say? That I purposely set out to steal him away from Lana? Because I didn't. As I told you just a moment ago, it just sort of happened and there was nothing Clark and I could have done to stop it."

"You're going to have to do better than that," he shook his head.

"Fine," she uncrossed the arms she hadn't realized she had re-crossed somewhere along the way and sighed almost wistfully although not for the reason's Lex would have thought. No, she was wistful at this point because she wasn't going to get to see the look on Clark's face when she said what she was about to say.

She tilted her head to one side and purposefully raised her voice a bit so that most of the Talon-the same Talon that had gone quiet when Lex had come up to talk to her-could hear, "I'm using him for sex. WE'RE using each other for sex."

He furrowed his brow, an eyebrow of bemusement raised. This wasn't the example he had been expecting, "You're using him for…."

"….sex, yeah," she nodded, listening as-from behind her-Martha had to choke back laughter, "The most mind-blowing, earth-shattering sex I've ever had actually. Or at least that's the way it started off. Now I think I might actually be falling in love with the guy. But then again, that could just be the endorphins caused by all the orgasms he keeps giving me. That honest enough for you?"

Martha discreetly went to the office at this point, unable to contain her laughter.

At the other end of the bar, Clark buried his head further into his reading material and tried to stop his cheeks from burning off his face.

Oblivious to this, she went on, "If it isn't, well, give me a few minutes and I'll find a more articulate way of saying what I have to say-no wait, inarticulate would be better, don't you think? Really show you that the there's a reason you think I'm nothing but a muffin peddler."

"Such hostility," he shook his head, "One would think you feel guilty, Lois."

She backed away from the till and threw up her arms, "What is with this town? I have nothing to be guilty about. They broke up, end of story."

Lex simply smirked at her.

She gave up, done with this conversation. She didn't know what Lex wanted her to say but she DID know that if she spent any longer talking to him he was going to keep bothering her about the relationship she supposedly broke up. As it was, she was trying to put all thoughts of Clark flying aside in favor of the so called new 'relationship' that she and the man under such scrutiny were supposedly engaged in.

By the look on Lex's face-smug and at ease now that he had succeeded in putting Lois into such an angry state-told her that she had probably succeeded.

"Look, we're done here," she cleared her throat, nodding to the person who had just come to line up behind Lex, waiting for a coffee. She took the order and nodded to one of the baristas behind her to begin making the freshly ordered drink for her. Lex moved aside, but only a bit.

She blew a deep breath out of her mouth, "You did this, Lex, not me. She didn't have to know and I refuse to take responsibility for your inability to keep your mouth shut."

"Fine," he examined her one last time, crossing his arms as he took a step back from the coffee bar. He turned, taking two steps away and then suddenly stopped and turned back.

"What is it now, Lex?" she asked wearily, giving the customer she was helping an apologetic look. .

He looked at her, "Don't you think it's odd how quickly your relationship has progressed? You two hated each other and now, apparently, you're sleeping with each other."

Lois tilted her head to one side, the only explanation she could think of rising to her lips, "Grief does strange things to a person."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Sex and the Value of a Good Foot Rub**

"'Grief does strange things to a person? 'I'm using him for sex?'" Clark quoted back to Lois as they walked up the stairs into the loft, "Why Lois?"

She shrugged, "Thought it would make you squirm and hey! I was right. Isn't it neat when that happens?"

He gave her an incredulous look in response.

She took pity on him, "Clark, relax. This was what the town was expecting, remember? And I just gave it to them," she took the final step up into the loft and looked back at him as she made her way over to the couch, "And besides that, I think you need to look at the big picture; I just attached an image to your name that most men would be happy to have."

He snorted, "Yeah, right."

"No really. I think there are worse things to be known for than being a sex go…."

He put a hand over her mouth, a blush staining his cheeks again, "I'm not like that."

Lois glared at him and removed his hand from her mouth, "Well, regardless, I just painted you as one and at my own expense too. Your whole town thinks I'm the slut who stole you away from Lana for no good reason other than 'the sex was too good to pass up.'"

She crossed her arms and sat down, looking irritated at him now, "And I hate it when you make those kind of negative comments about yourself. Exactly how do you know, hypothetically speaking anyways, that that description doesn't fit you? What experience, barring Lana, do you have as a basis for comparison?"

"My sex life or…..lack thereof….is not up for discussion tonight," he sat down on the couch and purposely dodged the question. The truth of the matter was that he didn't have a basis for comparison and even if he did, it would be the last thing he wanted to discuss with Lois right now. Or ever even.

If it had been Chloe he had been confiding in at this point, he was almost positive that he wouldn't have ended up talking about sex quite as much as he had in the last 36 hours.

"Your fictional sex life is still fair game though, right?" Lois broke him out of his thoughts.

Exasperated, he didn't answer.

She looked at him pointedly, "Look, don't get all angry at me about this. We can't talk about what happened today without talking about it so you better deal with the fact that we have to. Besides, you brought it up."

"I didn't bring the subject of our fictional sex life up," he said testily, "You did. All I wanted to talk about was why you told Lex that you were using me for sex."

She shrugged and turned sideways on the couch, leaning back to rest her head on the arm, "Oh that. Why did I say that? Oh yeah-it was fun."

Clark closed his eyes, "It was fun?"

She nodded, "You should have seen the look on his face. It was hilarious."

"Well, I'm glad you had a good time because I didn't. I don't think I'm going to be able to go to the Talon ever again without people…." he shook his head and trailed off, remembering the way people had looked at him as he had left the Talon this afternoon.

"…looking at you and remembering that you're a sex god?"

"Lois!"

"Sorry, my bad. Does sexy bitch work better for you or is that term too dated?"

He drew a deep breath and tried to rein in his temper, wishing for what felt like the umpteenth time since Chloe's funeral that she was still around. He was certain he wouldn't have had to suffer nearly as much abuse from her as he had from Lois.

The woman currently causing him such discomfort let out a quiet laugh, "Look, I'm sorry if it makes any difference. What's done is done though, and I can't take it back now so we just need to deal with it and move on."

"I know," he nodded reluctantly, "I just…I guess I don't understand why you had to say it in the first place. For future reference, tell me ahead of time what you intend on doing."

Lois raised an eyebrow, "Well, that would work if life were planned out day by day and there were no surprises. I didn't expect Lex to confront me about 'sleeping' with you quite frankly some things you just can't plan. That's just life.

"As for what I'm doing-spontaneous or otherwise…" she looked at him, trying to convey to him her guilt free apology. She was sorry she had caused him embarrassment but if it meant that he was a little more safe from Lex's suspicions than she wasn't about to feel guilty about it. She continued, "….is protecting you, Clark. Any way I know how and right now, the only way I know how to have fun with this. Really, it's the only way we're both going to get through this without first killing each other."

He sat up and rested his arms on his knees, looking at her briefly before concentrating on the floor, "Look, all I'm saying is that you're the one who made us promise each other that there would be as little physical contact in public as possible. Now, you've made that impossible if we're going to be able to fool Lex."

"True," she nodded, "And since it's my fault we're in this boat now, I'm willing to overlook what we agreed upon. Although if it bothers you we could somehow manage to just start coming out of random broom closets and offices looking like we were doing something."

Clark didn't laugh at her attempted joke.

She cleared her throat and turned the subject of their conversation to another facet of it, "Well at least your parents think this is hilarious," Lois murmured and spread herself out better on the couch.

Clark raised an eyebrow, "Go ahead. Make yourself comfortable, Lois."

"Thanks, I will," She shot him a look and propped herself up with her elbows, "You have to admit, Clark, this whole situation is funny. Funny and…"

"Embarrassing," Clark pushed Lois' feet aside. "But I know what you mean. I've never seen my Mom laugh that hard."

She stretched out again and put them in his lap, ignoring the look of annoyance he sent her as she did so, "And speaking of your parents, if we're going to pull this off, especially now, we're going to need to keep an eye on them. Your Mom's going to be the worst of the two."

"How's that?"

"Do you honestly think she's going to be able to keep a straight face when we're out in public and have to act all couply? And beyond that, I think it's going to be interesting seeing her handle the public outcry that you dumped the girl next door for me, the sarcastic city girl who seduced you away from her in the first place. You saw what happened today; it's only going to get worse and if she can't keep a straight face, all the acting in the world isn't going to help us."

Clark paused to think about this and realized that she was right, "Shit."

"Shit is right," she crossed her arms. After a moment she looked down the couch at him, "You know, as long as you're down there….." she wiggled an eyebrow suggestively. She noticed the look that was beginning to climb onto his face, "I had a shower a half an hour ago. They're clean….

He narrowed his eyes at her, remembering the last time she had talked him into doing what she was currently asking him to do. His mother had walked in and hadn't stopped with the innuendos for days, "Lois, I am not rubbing your feet."

"Why not?" she protested in a voice that was almost a whine, "They're there, you're there and I've been on my feet all day."

"No."

"Why not, Clark? You owe me huge for what I did for you today and I think as far as repayment goes, this is miniscule compared to what I could be asking of you."

He looked at her in disbelief, "You told my entire town that you're using me for sex. I'm not really sure that's something I need to thank you for."

She held up a finger, "It wasn't your entire town. Just everyone at the Talon, and you're forgetting the most important part. I said it was great sex-worth breaking up a long term relationship for, even- and for that, I'd say that I deserve more than a foot rub."

He looked up at the ceiling, nodding sarcastically as he pretended to think, "Because of you we now have to have more physical contact in public, something that you've told me you're against and, as if that weren't enough to make the situation worse, now I'm going to have to deal with Lex keeping a closer eye on us thanks to what you said to him because he wants Lana for himself but can't have her in the 'state' she's in right now. You've just given him the role as protector and champion to her wronged and scorned woman."

Lois let out a snort, "Wronged and scorned? Well aren't you Mr. Melodramatic. She broke up with you, remember? And it wasn't because you were supposedly cheating on her. It was because she couldn't handle who you really are."

Clark breathed out a frustrated sigh, "She's not actually wronged and scorned, Lois. She's just…."

"…..playing a part, yes I know," Lois moved her head from side to side, effectively conveying how ridiculous she thought Lana's 'part' in all this was. This was all getting too complicated. She cleared her throat and met his eyes, "Your dream world that's currently masquerading as reality is a bit silly, Clark, you know that, right?"

He grimaced as he thought about how right she was, "I'm beginning to get the feeling, yeah."

"'Wronged and scorned' though she is," Lois reached behind her and propped herself up with one of the cushions, moving on in an effort to come to a decision with Clark about what was going to happen in the next few days, "It's because of me that she's still your girlfriend."

"And let's not forget that I had three cups of coffee spilled on me today for you," she finished with another, more pointed look and wiggled her toes, reminding him of what she asked him to do for her.

In response, Clark looked down, heaved a sigh and began to remove her socks.

Lois smiled happily and closed her eyes a moment later as he began to rub.

"So how are we going to do this?" he broke her out of her happy place a moment later.

"Well," she didn't open her eyes, "I thought I'd lie here and let you rub my feet all night, actually."

"I meant about Lana," he rolled his eyes and watched as Lois cracked open an eyelid.

"Oh," she sighed, opening her eyes fully now and looking at him, "The two hour s we already spent talking about this weren't enough for you? We can't just, you know, amp up the amount of touching we do in public and leave it at that?"

"You mean the two hours we spent debating the amount of actual physical contact that would be necessary to make everyone believe we're dating?" Clark murmured sarcastically, "That's kind of changed, now hasn't it?"

She pursed her lips, realizing that he was right, "Just a bit…."

"So what's the game plan now?" he continued on, rubbing the underside of her right foot harder.

Lois closed her eyes as he hit a good spot, "Oooh, that's nice. Stay there, okay?"

He abruptly stopped, "Lois, focus."

She opened her eyes and glared at him, "Fine."

He waited for her to start talking again, continuing to rub a moment later when she raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly down at her feet.

Lois sighed as his hands went back to the spot they had been before, "I thought you'd take me to the movies tomorrow night, leave early and then you could meet Lana back here at the barn."

She hissed in pain as his hands tightened on her foot in surprise.

"Sorry," Clark apologized and looked her in the eye, "Did you just say what I thought you just said? I thought we were going to wait to establish a 'relationship' for the town before we moved on to that kind of…"

"…deception?" she murmured. She shrugged a moment later, "No time like the present, Clark. Besides all that, I think I threw Lex off our trail for the moment with my little comment earlier. I called Lana earlier; he already has tried to set up an evening with her so that they can work through her 'depression' over this-especially in light of what I said at the Talon today- and she's already told him no, she's going to bed early tonight and trying to put this behind her."

"In reality, she'll be here at 9, ready to spend some time with you and to work out the issues that, and I quote 'went unresolved in your break-up' and to 'reconnect,' unquote."

A smile crept onto Clark's face and for a moment, Lois forgot how good the foot rub he was currently giving her felt in exchange for the concern for him she was feeling. She paused a moment, unsure how to phrase what she felt she had to say and, furthermore, not wanting to make the smile go away.

It wasn't that he didn't smile a lot, it was just that-lately at least- it hadn't been as happy a smile as she would have liked and she knew it was because of the state of his relationship with Lana. Nonetheless, she still had her concerns.

She bit down on her bottom lip, "Clark?"

"Yeah, Lois?"

"Are you sure this is what you want?"

He looked at her, surprised by her words again but this time for an entirely different reason, "What makes you ask that?"

She drew an uncomfortable sigh, "It's just that I know how much Lana means to you but…."

"But what?"

"But are you sure that you mean the same to her?"

He stilled, his hands the only part of him moving now, "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean-and I've said this before- that I don't like the way she doesn't accept you the way you are, or at least that's the way it sounded when she broke up with you. You're worth more than that and if you're not making her as happy as she's making you, than maybe you're not meant to be with her."

He paused a moment, thinking about how to respond to this. On one hand he was touched by her concern and recognized that, had Chloe been the one in her place, she would be asking the same questions. For that he should be thankful for her concern. On the other hand, despite how she was simply acting as any best friend would right now, he was a little insulted.

Thankfulness, in the end, won out.

He switched feet, taking her other foot in hand and concentrating on her toes to start, "Thank you…"

"But?" she prompted, sensing that he had more to say.

"But," he continued, turning his head to look at her, "This is what I want. Despite how she broke up with me, despite all that we've been through, I still feel something for her, something deeper than I've ever felt for anyone. I can't just throw that away because we're going through a rough patch."

Lois tilted her head to one side before nodding understandingly. As long as he was certain-relatively anyway-than so was she. For now at least. She opened her mouth to respond, knowing that he was waiting for her to say something, "Alright then. I just had to check. I'm not kissing you for nothing, after all."

He rolled his eyes.

"And speaking of kissing," she reached down to the side of the couch where she had sat her purse before Martha had called the two of them for dinner. She pulled out a small tube. "This is for you."

Clark took it with his free hand, "What's this?"

"Lip balm," she grinned wickedly. The plan for tomorrow night had been Lana's plan but Lois had decided to put this particular touch in if only to get Clark to blush again the way he had been at the Talon earlier, "Don't worry; it's unscented and unflavored."

"I know what it is," he scowled at her, "Why are you giving it to me?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I'm giving it to you so that you can start using it tonight in preparation for tomorrow. There's no way I'm kissing you again if your lips are as dry as the desert. Moisturize, please, it'll be much more pleasant that way."

He blinked at her, "I'm sorry, kissing?"

"Yeah, Smallville. How else did you think we were going to get out of that movie theater early enough to get you back in time for your date? We sit down, the movie starts and half an hour in we 'get bored' and start making out. A few minutes later, we come up for air, I whisper something in your ear which everyone will interpret as 'let's go back to my place and have sex' and then we leave. Simple as that," she sighed, relaxing into the couch a little further and stretched her toes in his grasp.

"Simple as that," he repeated. He turned his head sharply to look at her. "Are you sure Lana's okay with this? I'm sure just the whispering part would be enough to…"

"No," she shook her head adamantly. "You said it yourself, I set the bar a little higher than it was yesterday with what I said to Lex. That might have worked yesterday but not today."

"But what about Lana? She….."

"….suggested this," Lois finished his sentence for him.

He went silent a moment and then…"Really?"

"Um-hm."

Clark pursed his lips and nodded his head and at a complete loss for words. Sometimes-and it appeared that this was one of them-it was better to be a man of few words. He cleared his throat, "Okay then. Moisturize. Check."

Recognizing that his life had just entered a surreal reality-it wasn't everyday that a person's girlfriend authorized (suggested and scheduled even) that her boyfriend make out with another girl for the greater good-he went back to rubbing Lois' feet and made a mental note to try to pinpoint the exact moment he let the women in his life take over.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9-Keeping Up Appearances**

Lois popped an M&M into her mouth and looked over at Clark, currently sitting next to her in the darkened theater and looking anxious. She leaned over, "Clark…."

He jumped in his seat.

She raised an eyebrow and leaned back toward him, whispering, "Would you relax? It's not like I'm going to jump you."

He shot her a look.

She paused, a grin turning the corner of her mouth up teasingly, "Oh wait. I am."

"Not funny," he hissed, slipping an arm around her shoulders to keep up the ruse they were playing. At the moment (just as Lana and Lois had predicted) he could feel all eyes on them, watching them to make sure they weren't going to do anything that they shouldn't be doing rather than watching the movie.

This of course meant that what they shouldn't be doing was going to be exactly what they WOULD be doing tonight, or at least pretending to be and to be completely honest, Clark had strongly considered slipping on his class ring for this occasion because he was so nervous. Like it or not, he was going to be cheating on his girlfriend tonight and he didn't feel good about that at all.

He furrowed his brow and tried to calm his nerves. Was it still cheating if his girlfriend was the one who planned it in the first place?

A low chuckle that Lois hoped could be mistaken for delight broke through her lips- and also succeeded in breaking him out of his thoughts, "Maybe not for you but the people behind us are going to think it's funny if you don't make a move soon."

"Maybe they'll just assume that we're here to watch the movie," Clark responded softly.

Lois let out a snort, "I dragged you to a chick flick, Clark. Worse even, a Meg Ryan movie marathon. Don't get me wrong, I love Meg Ryan, but people are either going to assume you're whipped or that you brought me here to make out."

"For your information, I LIKE 'When Harry Met Sally," Clark raised his chin indignantly.

"How very metrosexual of you," Lois murmured and tilted her head until she was resting it on his shoulder, "My point is that no sane man who goes to see it at the theatre with his girlfriend spends his time actually watching the movie. He sleeps, or fantasizes about the women in the movie if his girlfriend is actually watching, but he doesn't generally go to the movie in order to watch the movie."

"Lois," he leaned his head towards hers and lowered his voice so that no one could hear him. "You're a control freak. I assumed that you'd want to start this. Are you telling me you want me to make the first move?"

"Well yeah," she replied and lifted her head off his shoulder. "There's no way I'm initiating tonight. I've done that enough, thank you, and people think that I'm just in it for the sex. You need to be in it just for the sex too."

He breathed out slowly and lowered his mouth to her neck, doing as she had instructed him. If she wanted him to make a move than he would make a move…"Do you always have to be so blunt?"

She tilted her neck to give him better access, relief that she hadn't had to initiate this coursing through her, "Do you always have to be so slow?"

His mouth moved off her neck and upwards to settle right behind her ear, "Me? Slow?"

"Yes you," she said, closing her eyes as a tingle ran through her body. She cleared her throat and continued, "A real man would have his hand halfway up my shirt by now."

Clark was struck silent, more than a little annoyed at her comments.

From beside him, Lois (still tingling) hid a smirk and purposely looked at her watch. One thing she knew about Clark was that, at least when it came to her, he was highly competitive. Another M&M made it's way into her mouth and she chomped down, ignoring his reaction.

"Lois," Clark breathed out after a moment of silence had passed, his hand on her shoulder moving down until it touched her breast through her shirt, his mouth continuing what it had been doing earlier, "Is that a challenge?"

She looked down at the hand, raised an eyebrow and ate some more chocolate, "Yeah, actually, it is, Smallville. So put the moves on me so that we can get out of here."

Clark reached between them and moved the armrest up until he could slip it back into the seat, "Is this a good starting move for you?"

She breathed in a sharp breath, hoping that she sounded shocked and on the verge of arousal as he stroked a hand over her breast before starting to creep down towards the hem of her shirt.

"Well, it's something," she replied, finally setting her bag of chocolate into the cup holder of the armrest beside her and leaned in to whisper into Clark's ear, "But kissing me would be an even bigger statement than simply giving us more room to grope."

She separated slightly from him at this point, sitting closer to him in their seats but not making full contact with him yet. With a light touch, she slipped a hand across his cheek, stroking it and bringing his face closer, "I thought you weren't going to make me do this for you."

Clark simply rolled his eyes and kissed her gently, his mouth soft from the lip balm she had forced him to use. A moment later, he drew back.

She blinked up at him. It wasn't as if she was looking to actually make out like she meant it tonight. Indeed, she was more than willing to fake arousal or whatever else in order to get them out of here and back to the farm but a little more effort-certainly more than he was currently exhibiting-was more than called for if this was going to happen anytime soon. She rolled her eyes, "Is that the best you've got? Because that's not going to keep us here more than five minutes let alone the twenty minute timetable we've set ourselves. I mean, honestl…..umph!"

His lips came down upon hers again, hard, moving against them and drawing her in until she had to part her lips to keep breathing. Then his tongue was there, gliding gently over her teeth before reaching her own and touching it in an exploratory glance.

She leaned in and returned the favor, miraculously losing herself in Clark for a moment as she opened her lips a little more to give him better access to her mouth. This was more like it. If he kept this up, they might actually keep to the timetable she and Lana had set up for them this evening.

Clark pulled her closer still, intent on following the instructions that Lana and Lois had made out for this evening. Kissing? Check. Use a little tongue? Check. And now-ahead of schedule even-they were swiftly moving on to the groping portion of the evening.

The hand that had been on its way up her shirt started its slow movements back towards the hem.

Lois let out a small moan as Clark's tongue met hers again and his hand-the one that had been trying to prove to her that it could do more than just sit there on her shoulder- grazed her sensitive stomach.

Clark swallowed her moan and moved his free hand up until it was cupping Lois' breast through her bra and was startled as Lois, whether it was from what he had just done to her or simply acting, arched into him, making it clear to the people behind them exactly what they were doing.

Unable to breathe, she separated her mouth from his and drew a raw gasp, making sure to keep it audible enough so that if Lex had someone watching them they would be able to tell that they were enjoying themselves. She lost track of the time after that, her act forgotten as Clark continued to kiss her like he was her prom date and they were both going to get lucky.

It wasn't that he was a good kisser-on the contrary, she had had better- it was just that the spark that she normally felt when she was with a guy was greater with him. Or at least she assumed; for a number of reasons she had made an assumption that what she was feeling was purely a result of the adrenalin brought on by fooling his town, Lex, and also by all the secrets she was currently helping him keep. Whatever the case might be, this exercise in subterfuge was proving to be less of a waste of time than she had initially thought it would have been.

"How's that for making a move?" Clark's voice rasped in her ear, breaking her out of her thoughts and into reality. In the background, Harry was explaining to Sally why men and women could never be friends because the sex always got in the way.

At this particular moment in time, Lois was beginning to agree with him.

A short and almost soundless laugh made its way out of Lois as she struggled to get her breath back-evenly spaced and free of any kind of sexual torment or pleasure, "Point taken."

"How much longer do we have?" he murmured, drawing her face back to his and kissing her more gently now.

"I think we should stay for another few minutes," she kissed him back, careful to keep an eye out for anyone who might be coming to throw them out of the theatre for indecent behavior. The point was not to get thrown out, after all. What they ideally wanted to do is to have to leave the movie early, go back to his place and disappear up into the loft where, with any luck, any of Lex's henchmen he had had following them would soon lose interest and assume they had just gone back to Clark's place to have sex.

Clark cleared his throat and kissed her again, a nod his only agreement with her previous words. A sigh murmured through him as Lois leaned in pliantly, obviously enjoying this ruse as much as he currently was.

It was different from kissing Lana or Alicia, or even Chloe, and he really hadn't expected it to be. The first time in the field they had been on the verge of losing control with each other and completely forgetting exactly who they were with. This had been a surprise for him as he had figured that he very likely wouldn't feel anything given the opportunity to kiss his new 'best friend.'

Lois was just that right now- just Lois, his sometimes best friend and that came with a certain amount of emotional baggage. She was the person he loved to hate, the one woman who always managed to put him on edge-even when she was giving him a compliment which, admittedly, didn't happen often. She was his psychiatrist, his confidante, and the one person who always told him exactly how it was and when he was acting like a fool.

At this particular juncture however, she was also the woman he wanted to kiss.

Lois sighed into his mouth and let him kiss her some more, her hands clutching his chest and silently asking him to never stop.

Oh that was wrong….

Her body froze as her mind played back her last thoughts.

"Lois?" Clark moved back down to her throat.

She cocked her head to one side and closed her eyes, "Um-hm?"

"You okay?"

"Yeah," she pulled back and kissed him hard, intent on making her body listen to her brain instead of the other way around. She was NOT having lusty thoughts about Clark Kent and that was that, "I just think…" she caught the eye of the person sitting behind them and winked at them, raising her voice slightly so they would hear her, "That it's time to take this back to your place."

The person behind her-a woman who, she knew for a fact, was good friends with Martha Kent, looked at her in disgust.

Lois returned the favor.

He looked up at her, drawing her attention back to him, and lifted his eyebrows at her questioningly, "Really?"

"Yes really," she kissed him one last time and then, mouths still connected, began to talk, "Now, when my hand reaches your stomach, make a sound like I just put it down your pants."

She could feel his cheeks heat up next to hers.

"Excuse me?"

"Just do it, Smallville or I'm telling your girlfriend that you made me go down on you here in the theatre."

Clark's throat went dry and he suddenly found himself unable to answer. It wasn't like he didn't want to. Lois was fun to argue with and he looked forward to each time he had the opportunity to do so. It was just that, at least in this particular circumstance, he really didn't know what to say. The image she had brought forth in his mind was both hot (something that he had been trying very hard not to label Lois with throughout their encounters since this whole thing had started), but also guilt producing and he had already decided that he didn't have a reason to feel guilty. He was doing all of this for Lana, a woman who had dumped him and then picked him up again and who also had orchestrated this whole scenario.

This didn't mean that he still couldn't feel mortified that Lois would even joke about going that far when he was still dating Lana.

Clark's blush, although she couldn't see it, grew redder and hotter against her cheek but he complied, making the appropriate moan when her hand reached his stomach. She kissed him one last time, pointedly removed her hand from where it had been resting, and then the two of them got up and left hurriedly.

Clark didn't find his voice again until they were in the car and on the way back to the farm. He drew a short breath, his mind only now finished processing exactly what had happened in that last minute in the theater, "That last part was unnecessary."

She turned to look at him indulgently, "Not really. The woman behind me got an eyeful and so did every other person in that theater, including, I might add, Lex's head of security who just happened to be sitting in the back row as we left."

"Wait, wait, wait. Lex sent his head of security?" Clark turned to look at her.

"Eyes on the road, Clark," she murmured, "And yeah, he was there. Watching us, I'm sure, in order to reassure Lex that there's absolutely no possibility that Lana and you will get back together. I can only guess that he's on the phone right now with her telling her, 'unfortunately,' that you and I practically went at it in front of all those people."

He cleared his throat uncomfortably, "About that last part though…."

She looked at him slyly, "Don't worry. I'm not going to tell Lana anything."

"So you wouldn't have even if I hadn't of let you…."

She snorted, "No. She wouldn't have believed it anyways."

"Good," he nodded and then stopped, furrowing his brow as her words played back for him. "Why wouldn't she have believed it?"

She looked at him, eyebrow raised, "Oh come on, Clark."

"No, I'm serious," he pressed the issue, "Why wouldn't she have believed it?"

"Well, you're not really the type. You know that, right?"

"No, I don't know that. What makes you think that I'm not the type?"

She laughed now but stopped when he shot her his hurt look, "You're serious, aren't you?"

He didn't answer.

She sighed, "Clark, what do you want me to say? That you're not the type of guy to demand oral sex? You're not and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I know guys like that. In fact, most of the guys I've dated have been like that. And, while I'll admit it was sometimes a turn on, most of the time it wasn't. You're a gentleman and you always think about others before yourself. Lana knows this and so does everyone else in this town so no, she really wouldn't have believed it of you unless you'd been into the red kryptonite again and we both know how well THAT always turns out."

"Anyway," she continued, "Can we move on or did you want me stroke your ego some more?"

"No," he said dryly, putting her words past him although they still stung, "I think you've done that enough tonight."

She turned a sly grin on him, glad that he hadn't been insulted with what she had just implied to him, "Smallville, you just made a dirty joke."

"Yes I did."

Lois leaned back against her seat and shrugged, "Good to know I've been such a bad influence on you."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10- Aftermath of a PDA**

Lois straightened her clothes as she walked towards the farmhouse, conscious of the fact that Clark was now walking in the opposite direction to meet his girlfriend in the barn. She shook her head, surprised at how territorial she was currently feeling to the man that wasn't really hers, "Get a grip, Lane."

With a sigh, she looked back over her shoulder, noting that Clark was walking with hunched shoulders, clearly still shaken from both their experience in the theatre and the chat they had had in the car.

This, for some reason, made her smile.

She cleared her throat and climbed the stairs to the house. Martha Kent opened the door.

"You're back early."

"Yeah well," Lois shrugged and tried to keep the irrational need to blush to a minimum. "We finished early."

Martha raised an eyebrow and Lois, unable to contain herself, couldn't hold back a small laugh at her inadvertent double entendre.

She entered the house and took off her shoes, "Please tell me you have some form of alcohol here. I feel like I could use some."

Martha nodded, "From what I heard, you could also do with a cold shower."

Lois winced, "Have you already started to get calls?"

"Oh yes. Jonathan barely managed to talk Margaret Greason from coming over here herself to tell you exactly how a lady should behave when out in public."

"Was that her name?" Lois ran a hand through her hair as she walked towards the kitchen.

"Um-hm. She works at the post office and we've known her for 20 years. She's also one of Smallville's biggest gossips."

"And yet you're friends with her."

"Acquaintances," Martha corrected her as they reached the kitchen. She reached into the cupboard for the wine glasses. "My closest friend in this town has always been Jonathan."

"That's sweet," Lois tilted her head to one side and accepted the glass of wine that Martha had just handed her. She took a sip, "So you're telling me that, in all likelihood, our behavior," she made air quotations with her free hand, "is going to be broadcasted all over Smallville by tomorrow morning."

"If not before that."

"Excellent," she bit her lip and smiled. This was the statement that Clark, Lana, and she had most needed made if they were going to both cover for Clark's behavior in the field and also keep Lex from delving into the status of their faux relationship. If Margaret Greason did her job correctly, then she and Clark probably wouldn't have to make many more blatant shows of affection which was a good thing.

Or at least it should be. Right now Lois wasn't exactly sure if the prospect of kissing Clark again grossed her out or turned her on more.

Martha eyed the younger woman speculatively, and then, nonchalantly, asked the question she had been dying to ask since they pulled into the driveway, "So, how was it?"

"You're asking me how the make-out session with your son went?" Lois drained her glass and handed it back to Martha for a re-fill, right eyebrow lifted in amusement, "Are you sure you want the answer to that?"

"Actually, I would," Martha nodded, "Saves me having to worry about the safety of Clark's secret."

Lois sobered, her smile falling off her face as the serious side of what she and Clark had been doing hit home for the first time all night. She looked Martha in the eye, "It went well. He was a little timid at first but I made it a challenge and suddenly that changed things. You know how competitive he and I are."

"I do…."

"And from the sounds of it, at least one person was convinced that we were a couple. If this Margaret Greason person bought it, I'm sure everyone else did too," she sipped her wine thoughtfully. "Lex's head of security was in the back row though. That worries me a bit."

Martha sat her wine glass down on the counter next to her, "How so?"

"Well," Lois followed the older woman's lead and sat her glass down too. "It's one thing for the town to buy it but Lex is no pushover and he only hires the best. If Clark and I don't do this charade justice than nothing's going to stop him from connecting the dots to Clark being the man he saw in the field that night and if that happens, there's no telling if he'll try to get Lana to tell him everything she knows about Clark's powers or just go after Clark himself."

"Then let's hope that you and Clark were convincing enough," Martha cleared her throat.

Lois nodded and thought back to what they had done in that movie theatre. The blush she had been trying to contain earlier made her cheeks warm and, from the corner of her eye she saw Martha raise an eyebrow. She cleared her throat and looked up, "I'm pretty sure we were."

* * *

Clark couldn't remember being this uncomfortable in his life as he climbed the stairs into the loft. He paused at the landing, just out of sight of the top, and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

And his body.

It wasn't as if he hadn't been aroused before; it was just that he hadn't expected his body to react the way it had to Lois in that movie theatre. What was even more embarrassing was that he was almost positive that Lois had not been similarly affected at all.

Oh she had moaned at the appropriate spots, gasped when she was supposed to, and put her hands in places designed to both tease their audience and preserve their own modesty but he was pretty sure she had been faking the whole thing.

There had been moments though….

No, he wasn't going to think about that. He wasn't going to think about the way she had arched into him or the way her tongue had felt in his mouth, wasn't going to even think about the fact that Lana, even after a year of dating, had never managed to get him as aroused as quickly as Lois had and he certainly wasn't going to think of the fact that it had taken him the entire drive back to the farm for him to even come down a little off of that high. He wasn't even going to think about how, if Lois' soft words about going back to his place to have sex were real, he would gladly have taken her up on the offer and probably wouldn't have paused to wonder if he was going to hurt her physically in doing so liked he had every time he and Lana had even kissed.

His eyes widened and he ran a hand over his face. Oh, this wasn't good. Not good at all.

He forced himself to continue climbing the stairs, knowing that Lana was up there waiting for him.

Lana waited patiently on the couch in the loft, eager the see Clark but knowing that she had to take things slow. She had hurt him and she would have to be careful how they proceeded over the next few dates because of that. She loved him after all and, while this new version of him would take some getting used to, she was happy about the fact that they were finally adhering to their promise of no secrets.

A moment later, Clark finally made an appearance, looking a little bit apprehensive but that kind of reaction she had been expecting.

She was nervous too.

She cleared her throat, "How'd it go?"

Clark let out a humorless laugh, looked at the floor, and then looked her in the eye, "Alright. Lex's chief of security was in the back of the theatre."

Lana sucked in a quick breath. That either meant that Lex was being overly cautious-or that she hadn't done a good enough job convincing him that she was the scorned party and that she and Clark were really over. A sudden wave of guilt washed over her, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Clark shook his head, "I think everyone in the theatre was buying that Lois and I were for real by the time we left. I'm sure by morning Lex'll have no more doubts."

Lana nodded, lips pursed as her brain played a litany of images of possible scenarios necessary for Lex to 'have no more doubts,' She tamped them down, aware that this had been her idea, "Well, that's good isn't it?"

"You'd think," Clark came closer and sat down next to her on the couch.

She took in his despondent form, knowing that hopeless look on his face, and leaned forward to comfort him, "Clark, it's going to be fine. He's not going to find out about your powers and I'm not going anywhere, not anymore."

He looked at her and for the first time since he had come into the loft, smiled, "I know."

Lana breathed out a relieved breath, "Good," she cleared her throat, "So how have you been? I know that this charade has put you in a place not exactly where you're used to being."

"You mean as Smallville's golden boy?" Clark raised an eyebrow, "To be completely honest, I'm kind of glad. This is a new position for me."

Lana bit her lip and smiled, "And what about Lois? How's she holding up?"

Clark winced, "We owe her a new pair of shoes, I think. Or two."

"Any particular kind?"

He raised an eyebrow, "You're probably safer asking her."

Lana nodded.

Uncomfortable silence fell over the loft as Clark, for what wasn't the first time, found himself lost as to what to say to Lana. It wasn't as if he wasn't happy to see her. On the contrary, he had been looking forward to this night for awhile. It was just that, now that this night had arrived-especially after what he had just done with Lois- he found himself at a loss for conversation.

In the end, Lana saved him from grasping at topics like a blind man.

"Well, between what you and Lois did tonight and what I've been doing with Lex, I think he'll move on in his speculation about you being able to fly," she said.

"What you've been doing with Lex?" he looked at her blankly. She hoped she was hearing a bit of jealousy in his voice-that, to her, boded well for their relationship because it showed her that he wanted to be with her as much as she wanted to be with him-but she couldn't be certain.

"Relax Clark," she shook her head, "He sought me out and, since then, I've been trying to throw him off the trail. You know, try to convince him that you and I are really over and that you really WERE in that field to make out with Lois behind my back."

"And not because she was trying to cheer me up because you dumped me?" he answered back dryly.

Lana looked down at her hands, his words bringing her back to the reason they had to resort to this elaborate act in the first place, "Did I mention how sorry I was that I reacted the way I did? Because I am."

"You didn't actually."

"Oh. Well, I am. I reacted badly to what you told me and I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"That's good to know."

She looked up at him, not hesitating in what she was about to say, "But it would probably be helpful to, you know, cut back on how much you're actually using your powers until Lex backs off."

"Cut back?"

"You know, stop saving people maybe? Stop trying to fly for awhile…"

He blinked at her, "Lana, if there's someone in trouble, I'm going to save them. I'd much rather put my secret in jeopardy than have someone die because I was worrying about my own safety."

"But what about your Mom?" Lana persisted, "What about me even? What if someone decides to hurt us because they knew."

"Lana…"

She held up a hand, pleading him with her eyes to listen to her, "I'm just saying that it might be a good idea to cut back. I'm not saying you need to stop completely."

Clark thought about this for a moment.

"Clark?"

"Yeah, Lana," he sighed, "I'll try. At least until Lex doesn't suspect anything anymore."

She breathed out a sigh in relief, "Good. It'll make it easier to convince him that you had nothing to do with the flying man he saw that night if you're not leaving him more evidence that it actually was you."

Clark simply nodded. Truthfully, he wasn't sure what he had just agreed to. In the back of his mind, Lois voice practically yelled at him that Lana had not said what she had just said because she cared about his wellbeing at all. In fact, the voice insisted, despite the reality that Lana had been the one to cook this plan up in the first place, he wasn't entirely sure if she wanted to be with the Clark the way she knew him before he had told her he was from another planet, or the Clark she still wanted to believe he was-Earth born, powerless and flawed.

He rubbed his left hand over his eyes and inwardly told the voice to shut up. This was NOT what he needed to be thinking about on his first date with his girlfriend since she had dumped him.

"Hey," Lana interrupted him out of his thoughts, a hand suddenly on his right hand and squeezing gently, "It's like I said before. Everything's going to be fine."

He nodded again and looked at her, forcing a smile before leaning down to kiss her gently.

"Um," she smiled against his lips as they broke apart. She kissed him back, "I've missed this."

"Me too," he murmured, feeling old feelings he thought he had had to put away for good resurface. He kissed her harder now, drawing her closer. The feelings of resentment that had come up when she had asked him to put away his powers for awhile fell away as her kisses made him forget everything but the feel of her body against his. Her lips dropped light kisses on his before melding back seamlessly into the deep kisses he remembered most from their time together before he had gotten his powers back.

Stifling a groan, he shifted them both to give them better access.

Lana, taking her cues from Clark, climbed onto lap and pushed up against him, her hands in his hair. To be completely honest, this was a step that-had she been asked by anyone earlier this evening-she would have said was unlikely to happen. But Clark was behaving differently then he had before he told her his secret and that, she figured, was probably the difference she was feeling.

He was bolder now and his hands-the ones that had just slipped under her shirt and were now playing with the hook to her bra-seemed to have a mind of their own. She pressed down against him and had to stop herself from gasping in shock as she felt the beginnings of an erection. Clark had never, not since the beginning of their relationship, let them get this physical.

She rolled her hips down and caught the moan he let out with her mouth, her right hand moving down his chest and toying with the top button of his jeans, "Clark…."

He froze under her, a suddenly still breath brushing her cheek.

"Clark?"

From under her, Clark gulped, his mind and his body at war now that Lana had actually spoken.

For a moment there, he had inadvertently been imagining that he was with Lois again.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

"Clark?" Lana brushed a hand against his cheek, sensing his distress.

He opened his eyes and looked at her flushed cheeks and full lips, swollen from the kisses they had just shared, and felt guilty that, from the moment his hands had begun their ascent up her back, his mind had been putting Lois on his lap instead of her.

This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen…

Not knowing how to handle the situation, he chose the simplest route out and scrambled out from under her, "We shouldn't have done that. This is just starting again and we……we shouldn't be moving so fast."

Lana adjusted her clothes, "I didn't mind."

"No," he shook his head, "But I do. It's not that I don't want this, Lana. I do. It's just that…"

"…you want to do things right, I get that."

"Yeah," he said slowly, willing his body to calm down from what they had been doing to each other. He cleared his throat, this last part needing to be said, "But I'm also learning to trust you again and that's going to take time."

Lana stilled and for a moment, he thought she was going to cry. He braced himself to back down from what he had just said.

She breathed in deeply, feeling like she had just been slapped. Rightfully so, but still…

It was her turn to clear her throat now, "I guess I deserve that."

He shifted nervously where he stood, "Can we…..can we try this again tomorrow night?"

She shook her head, "Not tomorrow night. I'm with Lex tomorrow but maybe the night after? I'll get Lois to help me set it up."

"Alright."

"Alright," she murmured. She looked at him hesitantly, trying to decide if kissing him good-bye at this point would be too much or if she should just skip it entirely and just leave. Impulsively, she kissed him anyway. "I love you."

"I love you too."

She squeezed his hand, "See you soon."

Clark simply nodded and let her let go of his hand, watching as she left the loft and then waving to her as she got into her car. She waved back, smiling, inadvertently sending a pain of guilt slicing through him. It wasn't until Lana's car had reached the road that he allowed his mind to dwell in detail what had just happened.

For a moment there he could have sworn it was Lois on his lap and, had he remembered that it HAD been Lana, he probably wouldn't have let it get so far. In fact, he thought as he sat back down on the couch and let his head fall into his hands, he KNEW he wouldn't have let it get that far. He barely trusted Lana with his heart anymore let alone with his body-the part of himself he was still struggling to control.

In more ways than one it appeared.

He looked down between his legs and groaned. No wonder Lana had gone along with what they had been doing. She had thought his reaction-the reaction he had always managed to control when he was around her due to the inordinate amount of time he spent keeping her at arms length-was for her and probably thought that this was a sign that they were back on track, better even then they had been before.

He had no idea what she would have done if she had known that the erection he had been sporting-the one he had barely gotten rid of before entering the barn only a short time ago-had been entirely for Lois.

What he had to do now, he thought as he stood up from the couch and straightened his clothes again, this time to ease the pressure in his groin until he could get into the house and either do something about it himself or take a cold shower, was forget about it. Forget about the thoughts of Lois that had put him so completely out of control. Forget the fact that he had been fantasizing about another woman while he made out with his girlfriend and what's more, got off on it.

Things being what they were, he rather thought he was going to be taking that cold shower instead of exercising that first option if only to break himself of the habit he had so recently acquired of inserting Lois Lane into thoughts he really should be having about his girlfriend and not the woman who was merely pretending to be.

He groaned again. He had a sneaking suspicion this was going to be easier said than done.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11: Damage Control**

Lois stepped into the kitchen at the farmhouse the next morning and went immediately to the coffee.

Martha looked at her husband across the table and raised an eyebrow before clearing her throat, "Good morning Lois. You're here early."

Coffee in hand, Lois turned around and grimaced, "Clark and I have damage control to do today."

"Damage control?" Jonathan sat his newspaper down and the table and looked confused, "Lois, we've already had two neighbors and three people we don't even know call to complain about your behavior last night. I think the time for damage control is over."

"You'd think, wouldn't you?" she took a sip of her coffee. "Lex's chief of security followed me home last night and was watching my apartment. He was still there when I got up this morning. Hence the damage control."

Jonathan furrowed his brow, "I don't understand…."

Lois ran a hand through her hair, wondering how she was going to explain the illegal activity she had been involved in this morning. Mrs. Kent wouldn't care considering it was for Clark but Mr. Kent might have something to say about it….she cleared her throat, "As soon as I recognized who was in the car this morning I kind of, well…..tapped into the conversation he was having with Lex on his cell phone."

Martha raised an eyebrow, "And how exactly were you able to do that?"

"Birthday present from the General. Sort of anyway," she shrugged, "I stole it from his office actually. The point I'm trying to make is that Lex still thinks this is an act that we're putting on in an effort to conceal Clark's powers and he's just waiting for us to slip up."

"So it's not because he wants Lana?" Martha murmured slowly, exchanging glances with her husband as understanding made its way into both of their eyes.

Lois shook her head, "Lana's a bonus. Lex wants to have his cake and eat it too I guess."

The Kents went silent, processing this for a moment. Eventually, Jonathan spoke, "So what does this mean then?"

"Besides that I'm going to be stuck kissing your son in public for the next few weeks?" she grimaced over the rim of her coffee mug.

Jonathan barely held back a laugh at the face she made, "Besides that."

"Well," Lois drained the rest of her mug, tilted her head to one side and swallowed the mouthful, "It means that Clark's secret dates with Lana are going to have to be suspended until we at least shake Lex's hired goons. And it also means that Clark's going to have to find a new place to practice his flying.

"Thus," she sat her mug on the counter top, "The need for damage control. Where is he anyway?"

"Still in bed," Martha replied.

Lois raised an eyebrow incredulously and looked at the clock, "It's 10 in the morning. I thought if you lived on a farm you had to be up early to do the chores or something."

"He did them already. Last night actually…." Martha shook her head, still confused over why Clark had been doing chores at 1 in the morning. "He went to bed about 2."

Lois did a mental count of the hours of sleep he had had and, satisfied that he had enough to get them through the day of acting they were going to have to do, spoke, "Well, it's about time he got up then, isn't it?"

She began to walk out of the room.

"Lois, where are you going?" Jonathan called after her.

"To wake your son up," she didn't turn around, "And then he's taking me to breakfast."

As soon as she was out of the room, Martha and Jonathan Kent, despite the fact that they recognized how serious the situation was, began to laugh.

* * *

Clark was in the middle of a sound sleep when Lois opened the door to his room with a bang. Able to sleep through a herd of elephants (or so his mother had always told him), he didn't budge from his position on the bed.

"Clark?" Lois called, entering the room and standing in the doorway, arms crossed.

Unsurprisingly, (she knew how heavy he slept) he didn't answer.

She rolled her eyes and moved towards the bed, shaking him lightly, "Clark, get up."

"Just five more minutes, Mom," he muttered into his pillow.

Lois shook harder, "I'm not your mother, Clark. Now get up. We have work to do."

He cracked an eyelid open and groaned as the sunlight coming through the window nearly blinded him, "Lois? What are you doing here?"

"Getting you up, Smallville," she sat down on the bed. "You're taking me to breakfast and I'm finding you a pet name."

"Wha…." He blinked at her, looked at the clock, and then dropped his head back down to the pillow as her presence in the room reminded him of what had happened last night.

Or what hadn't happened.

After his shower-which had been so cold he had been numb when he got out-he had still been so disturbed by the experience with Lana that he had actually gone out and done all of his chores for the following day. Fortunately this had tired him out enough that, when he finally got to bed around two in the morning, he had been so tired he had fallen asleep as soon as his head had hit the pillow.

He closed his eyes and tried to stop the blush that arose on his cheeks as last night's 'substitutions' replayed themselves like a movie in his head. Unsuccessful, he chose instead to bury his head deeper into the pillow. By keeping his head in the pillows, he thought, maybe he wouldn't have to worry about giving away his newly discovered 'feelings' for his best friend, "Lois, it's too early."

"It's 10 o'clock."

He pulled the covers up over his head now, and groaned, "And much too early to be having this conversation. You're insane by the way."

"I must be," she stood up, "Because I'm here helping you to protect your secret when I really don't have to be."

The covers came down slightly and he looked her in the eye, any possible blushing put aside in favor of curiosity, "Lois, what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that last night's little show…" she gripped a corner of the duvet and yanked, "…didn't work and Lex's head of security was still watching me this morning from his car outside my apartment."

Clark's hand, poised to retrieve the comforter from Lois, stilled, "Watching you? How do you know he was watching you?"

"Oh I don't know," she flopped herself back down on the bed, giving up slightly. Clark was up and talking to her at least. It was only a matter of time before she talked him into going out this morning and taking her for breakfast while he was at it, "It might have been the camera, or maybe it's because he was talking to Lex at the time."

Clark rolled over, propping himself up on one elbow, the remaining covers pulled down enough so that his chest was plainly visible, "And how exactly did you deduct that he was talking to Lex if you were in your apartment at the time?"

"Thanks to a little gadget I borrowed of Daddy's," Lois, who had been watching as he moved, replied breathlessly. She hastily restored her eyes back to eye contact as Clark began to speak again-thankfully oblivious to the moment of insanity she had just indulged herself in. Her best friend was attractive, she'd give him that but he wasn't attractive to her.

Now if she only believed that…

"And you heard him speaking to Lex? Specifically Lex and specifically about you and I and…?"

"Your powers. Something about knowing that this-you and I," she gestured with her hands, thankful that they were moving onto more important trains of thought then what hers had just been dwelling on, "Was just an act to cover up what was really going on."

"So what you're saying is that last night didn't work? Not the kissing, not the innuendo's, not the groping. Nothing," Clark said slowly, trying to comprehend the situation. It was a testament to how annoyed he was at this revelation that he was no longer worried about possibly showing Lois a reaction to her presence here in his room.

She bit her lip, "Well, no, not exactly…"

"Lois," he sat up again, "Did it work? Does he still think that I'm the one he saw in the cornfield?"

Lois laid back across the foot of the bed, tilting her head slightly to look Clark in the eye, "If I said no would that make you feel better?"

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his blanket covered thighs, "Not if you're lying."

She sighed, "No, Clark. It didn't work. In fact, Lex thought our behavior at the theatre was so strange that we MUST be covering something up. He didn't know what, but he suspects."

A stony look crossed Clark's face and then he got out of bed without another word, muttering to himself now as he gathered up clothes.

"Clark?"

He didn't answer her.

"Clark? What are you doing?"

He continued to talk to himself under his breath.

She sat up and propped herself on her elbows, "Clark? You want to answer me or do I have to go out and get you a few cats to go with the crazy you're sporting right now?"

He turned around, his clothes under his arm, "Thanks Lois, but I'm good. No cats necessary. I'm going crazy just fine on my own."

Lois raised an eyebrow, curious now, "What do you keep saying to yourself then?"

His next breath came out in a frustrated huff, "Nothing."

"Obviously it IS something otherwise you wouldn't be keeping it from me, would you?" Lois sat up completely now, and started to get up.

He stopped in front of her, forcing a surprise yelp out of her mouth and met her eyes, "Lois," he said in a firm voice. "I can honestly tell you that right now what I'm thinking is better left in my head."

She looked at him a moment, silence lying heavily between them as Clark waited for her to respond. When she didn't, he turned away and began to walk out of the room…

"And how do you know that what you're thinking is better left in your head?" she followed him out of the room.

Clark continued to walk down the hallway before disappearing into the bathroom.

Lois breathed out a huff into the closed door, thinking about how exactly she was going to get Clark out of this if he wasn't willing to tell her anything.

"Lois!" he quickly grabbed a towel from the table next to the shower, and wrapped it around himself as she entered the bathroom.

She waved a hand at him nonchalantly, "It's not like I haven't seen it before, Smallville."

"Yeah, well, you still should have knocked," he cleared his throat, tightening the towel despite the fact that he knew it was secure around his waist. He looked down and eyed the boxers he had just barely gotten off before Lois had barged in. She truly had horrible timing…

Lois shook her head, "Would you have answered? Besides, I have things we need to discuss and it won't wait."

He eyed her dubiously before, fed up, he set his jaw and nodded his head stiffly, "Fine." With one hand, he reached into the shower to turn it on, "But I have to shower. I'm assuming I'm taking you out to breakfast because we're trying to convince Lex that we're for real and for that, I'm pretty sure you don't want me to smell like the barn."

At the moment, Lois didn't care what he smelled like as long as he was ready and able to leave the farm in the next half hour. Despite that, she nodded and turned around, giving him privacy to get into the shower before she began talking to him again.

From behind her, Clark dropped the towel and stepped in.

Lois turned back around as she heard the curtain snap shut and sat down on the closed toilet, "So today's going to have to be different you know. We're doing this your way now."

"My way?" he called from behind the curtain. "What do you mean by that?"

She rolled her eyes, "It means that it's time for us to think about pet names for each other."

Clark poked his head around the curtain and raised an eyebrow, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. I'm not repeating myself. And I'd like it if you stayed away from 'Baby,' 'Cupcake,' or 'Muffin,' thank you very much. Oh and 'Pumpkin's' out of the question too."

"So pretty much anything edible then," Lois practically heard Clark roll his eyes.

"Pretty much," she crossed her arms.

Clark reached for the shampoo bottle and poured some into his hand, "So this is what you had to talk to me about? This is what was so urgent that you couldn't wait downstairs until I was ready."

"Kind of. To be completely honest, I just wanted to know what you were so huffy about earlier."

"Curiosity killed the cat, Lois," he scrubbed his hair with a grimace, continuing to scrub before stepping completely under the water to rinse the soap out.

Lois let out a snort through her nose, "Yeah, well, I'm spry."

"Yes you are," he mumbled under his breath, remembering the night before in the theatre.

"What was that?"

He cleared his throat and made a mental note to remember to keep his thoughts to himself, "Nothing."

"Sure. Like earlier was nothing too. We're going to get nowhere with this charade if you're unwilling to share, Clark…" she sing-songed at him.

Clark finished rinsing his hair and stepped out of the spray, picking up the soap as he did so, "Honestly Lois, you don't want to know what I was thinking."

"Sure I do. I'm your friend, aren't I?"

"My best friend actually," he finished with the soap and gave his body a quick rinse.

She tilted her head to one side, "That's sweet, Clark. Now what were you thinking?"

He let out a bark of laughter and shut the water off, "Are you sure you want to hear it?"

"Yep," she nodded, standing up as his hand came around the curtain. She handed him a towel.

"Thank you," Clark took it, drying himself off and wrapping it around himself before stepping out again. Without another word, he picked up the clothing he had taken from his room earlier-in the obviously wrong assumption that he was going to shower and dress here alone in the bathroom-and began to walk back to his room.

She followed him in and moved to the bed, purposely putting her back between him and the bed as she began to make it. Grateful, Clark began to dress, getting so far as his pants before she turned around again and sat down on the newly made bed.

She crossed her legs and looked at him expectantly.

Clark pulled his t-shirt over his head, "What I was thinking at that particular moment, if you must know, was that at the rate we're going with Lex, it's going to take marrying you before he believes that this is real."

"Like Alicia?" she raised an eyebrow, "I'm committed to helping you keep your secret, Smallville, but I'm not running off to Vegas with you."

He shook his head and sat down on the bed next to her, pulling his socks and shoes on, "Lois, it was just a thought. I wasn't serious. Just annoyed. When Lex gets on something….."

"…..he doesn't let up," Lois shrugged and stood up, reaching for Clark's hands. "Well you're in luck; neither do I and I'm not letting him connect the dots on this one."

Clark took the hands she gave him and stood up, a smile breaking the gloom of his face, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she returned the smile and looked him over, "You're not actually wearing that, are you?"

"I was planning to."

She raised an eyebrow and frowned, "Don't you have anything more Kal-ish?"

"Kal-ish?"

"I have a thing for bad boys. Lex knows this."

"Lois, he found us making out in a corn field and I told him it'd been going on for months. In addition, you told him that we're using each other for sex. I think I'm considered bad enough as it is. Besides, I really don't think that leather pants are appropriate for breakfast."

She scowled at him, "I wasn't talking about…..you own leather pants?"

Clark blushed, "Kal owns leather pants. I prefer jeans myself."

"No wonder you're not getting laid," she shrugged, and turned to walk out of the room.

"Hey!" he followed after her down the hall and down the stairs. "I'll have you know that Lana and I…."

He cut himself off when he noticed his parents were watching them come down from the living room where they were now seated. He cleared his throat as Lois looked at him expectantly, "I'll tell you about it in the car."

She pursed her lips and leaned forward so that only he could hear her, "It went that well, huh?"

"No," he muttered, shaking his head, "It was a disaster actually. But I'll tell you about it in the car."

Lois' eyes widened in concern, "Alright."

Smile gone now, she turned to Mr. and Mrs. Kent in the living room, "I'll have him back in a few hours, okay?"

"Alright. Have fun, kids," Jonathan called back, shifting the newspaper on his lap.

Clark simply nodded, knowing instinctively that this morning was going to be neither fun now relaxing considering what he and Lois had to talk about, let alone accomplish in the short time they were going to be out. Suddenly feeling overwhelmed he looked at his father and smiled a small smile, "We will, Dad."

Claustrophobia joining the apprehension, he allowed Lois to pull him out of the farmhouse and into the sun.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: Love Birds**

They didn't say a word for until five minutes before they reached the Talon, Clark deep in thought and Lois in uncomfortable silence next to him.

"So, uh," Lois quietly tried to break the silence again, although if she had known what the results would yield at this point in her journey, she probably wouldn't have been so timid. "You want to tell me what happened up in the loft last night or do I have to keep silent?"

"Is that even possible?"

She turned her head and looked at him, her expression purposely neutral; he was hurting and she knew he wasn't normally like this, "That's not funny."

Clark drew a deep breath, his mind going over the tone he had taken with her with regret, "I'm sorry. I'm just…..tense."

She raised an eyebrow, brushing his attitude aside, "It went that badly?"

"Yes," he nodded, his brow furrowed in thought. After a moment though, he corrected himself, "No. Maybe….."

She let out a soft snort of laughter at his indecisiveness and leaned back, "So which is it, Clark? It can't be all three."

"Yes, it can," he mumbled under his breath. It could be all these things and more.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," he cleared his throat and forced himself to look at her briefly, "It just got a little intense for awhile, that's all."

She looked at him warily, "What kind of intense are we talking about?"

Clark, knowing that she would browbeat it out of him sooner rather than later, decided suddenly to cut to the chase, "She wanted to have sex with me, Lois. And I couldn't."

"You…couldn't?"

"No, I couldn't," he re-iterated. After a moment of silence, he chanced looking over at her, "Mind out of the gutter. I don't mean physically."

She breathed a sigh of relief. She was nowhere near equipped to deal with those sorts of problems, even if she WAS his best friend, "Oh. Good. Then what did you mean?"

"I mean, emotionally. She's always pressuring me to tell her things I don't tell anyone and, even now, do things with her that I've never been ready for."

"What do you mean by 'even now'?"

"Lois, you know what I mean."

She raised an eyebrow questioningly, purposely blank. He needed to say the words if only to clarify in his own mind what he wanted and needed from his relationship with Lana.

"I mean," he looked at her pointedly, knowing exactly what she was up to; Lois had made no secret as to her feelings about he and Lana's relationship, "That Lana and I have been through a lot and I've already told her my biggest secret."

"So?"

"So, she should be satisfied with that, especially after the way she reacted at first. It's no wonder I don't want to tell her anything else right now."

"Do you have anything else worth telling her, Clark?"

He shook his head, "No. That's half the problem; it's not worth telling, it's just me being me."

Lois leaned back against the seat and sighed. If only she didn't know exactly what he was talking about this would be easier but she did. One thing she had learned about Clark since Chloe had died was just how much he kept inside himself. She knew this had a lot to do with his heritage and the need to keep it and what he could do because of it a secret but his compulsive internalizing of all that he felt on a daily basis was dangerous.

It was no wonder than when he got a whiff of red K he did a complete personality 180 then; those feelings had no where to go but out when he was under the influence.

She cleared her throat, "And you think she'd have a problem accepting who you are?"

He shook his head, ready to deny that this was true and stopped, thinking of the thoughts he had been having about Lois as he was making out with Lana. That was definitely something he knew she wouldn't be able to handle.

Lois rolled her eyes, "Clark, you can't have it both ways. If you want to make this work, you're going to have to bear your soul a little bit but it can't be a one sided thing. If she's sharing, you should be too." She cleared her throat, "And as for the other, the sexual aspect of your relationship…."

He blushed.

"…..I'm proud of you on that one."

His head whipped around to stare at her, "What?"

"Eyes on the road, Smallville," she commanded, "I just think it's good that you're waiting on the physical part of your relationship right now."

He furrowed his eyebrow, "Okay, who are you and what did you do with Lois Lane? Last time I checked, you thought I wasn't having enough sex and now you're commending me for NOT having it?"

"Well," she crossed her arms and shot him a defensive look, "I thought about it and, based upon her reaction to your powers and the fact that you should be starting to build a foundation of trust and honesty with her, sex sounded like a bad idea."

"What? Are you saying that sex can't be honest?"

She looked out the window, suddenly afraid to look him in the eye, "No, sex can be very honest. Almost too honest. I just think that you and Lana have to work up to it."

"Yeah," he nodded and let out a sigh, "That's for sure."

"But you ARE working on it, Clark," she sat a hand gently on the crook of his elbow and squeezed, "And that's a good thing."

"I guess," he murmured, reaching a hand over and laying it on top of hers, giving it a gentle squeeze back before letting go.

She let her hand drop and leaned back in her seat, "It is a good thing. Remember that and everything will turn out alright."

"Oh I know that," he turned right onto Main St and scanned for a parking space along the side, "I just don't know how to define alright anymore. I thought Lana and I were 'alright' before and looked where it got us-or didn't get us."

"Clark, I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit. She's the one who broke up with you, remember?"

"Only because I didn't tell her sooner. If I had…."

"She might still have broken up with you. In fact, if you'd told her early enough, she might never have started dating you in the first place. You could have just been her friend."

Clark pulled into a parking space in front of the Talon and turned off the engine, "Maybe."

"You worry too much about this," Lois shook her head, looking at him thoughtfully. "My best suggestion, especially in light of the fact that you're taking this slow is not to spend too much time mulling it over; just go with it and see where it takes you."

He undid his seat belt, "What if I don't like where it takes me?"

She undid her own seat belt and shook her head, "I don't know, break up with her or something."

"Oh that's real supportive."

"Well what do you want me to say?" her hand stopped on the door handle, effectively halting her movements out of the car. "That if it doesn't look like it's working out you should cut your losses? That's true. I don't care how much you love a person, for the most part that rule is true."

"I don't want to hear that," he shook his head in response, "Relationships need to be worked on."

Lois went silent, choosing not to answer. This was a sticky subject between them, especially when it came to Lana. Indeed, she had made no secret that she didn't like the way Clark's girlfriend had mistreated him. And-if they excluded the fast that she was helping him sneak around with her-she also hadn't lied to him when he had asked what he should do about his situation: Lois didn't like Lana, never had, and she certainly didn't think that Clark needed Lana the way he thought he did.

Nonetheless, he did love Lana and, as his best friend, she had an obligation to be at least a little bit supportive and so she kept her mouth shut.

After a moment of silence she cleared her throat, "Just out of curiosity, how do you want to play this?"

Clark looked at her, surprised that he hadn't gotten the standard lecture on how stubbornly steadfast he was to lost causes, "What?"

"This breakfast thing we're about to do," her fingers relaxed on the handle, "How do you want to play this?"

"Well," he thought out loud, "We've done this your way and Lex is still following us so…."

Lois let out a groan, "Cut the crap, Smallville. How affectionate are we talking here?"

"Says the woman who stuck her tongue down my throat during our first 'show' for Lex. I thought you liked affectionate."

"That was a necessary action and I didn't enjoy it."

"Yeah well, if you didn't enjoy it I can guarantee you're not going to like this," he leaned closer, his ears having picked up the telltale sounds of Lex's head of security answering his cell phone.

Better make this good then because unless his best friend was willing to make a habit of hand holding and kissing him in public-and he suspected she didn't- than they had to make this good enough that Lex would call off the dogs and let them go back to the remote 'love to hate' relationship they had had before all of this had started.

"I think I'm afraid to ask," Lois murmured warily, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"You should be," he murmured back, taking care to look away a moment later when that spark he had been fighting every time he got around her suddenly flared up again. He licked his lips and stared ahead, "Alright, here's the plan. Pretend Clark and pretend Lois have more than a relationship that revolves around sex; this means we're going to have to be a little more affectionate that we have been: think handholding, a few well timed kisses and optional touching."

"Optional touching?" she tried not to laugh, "Again, no wonder you're not getting laid."

Ignoring her, he continued, "Conversation needs to be pleasant and familiar, not confrontational and," he looked at her and almost winced, "We might have to use some pet names."

"Yeah, I figured that. No food names, remember?"

"Damn, and I here I was thinking you looked like a 'Cupcake.'"

"Funny," she shot him a look and, noticing how serious he was, sighed, "So in other words I have to pretend like I'm in love with you or at the very least, severe 'like'."

"Pretty much."

She drew breath through her nose, "Alright then. Let's do this before I lose my nerve."

He watched as she got out of the car, and he followed, coming around the truck quickly and catching her hand with his.

She looked over at him, startled.

He leaned in closer, "If we're doing this right, we have to hold hands."

"Right," she grumbled good naturedly, even as she slipped her hand into his and slowed her gait to reflect his, "Admit it Kent. You've just always wanted to hold my hand."

"Yeah, that's it Lois," he said, looking over his shoulder.

Lois squeezed his hand, "Don't look back. He'll know you see him."

He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, "Wait, you know he's been following us?"

She raised an eyebrow, "Well yeah. He's been following us all morning. When did you notice him?"

He looked at her sheepishly, "Just a moment ago, actually."

She patted his arm reassuringly, "Don't worry about it Smallville, I've been followed around by this guy longer than you have; I recognized his car whereas you, I'm sure, recognized him by this voice and probably while he was phoning Lex about something."

Clark looked startled, "How did you kn…"

"I just know you that well," she shrugged, "Let's not make too big a deal out of it-we have bigger fish to fry."

"Right," he reached the door to the Talon and held it open for her.

She nodded sagely and, in a move that surprised even herself, leaned up and kissed him softly on the lips. She backed away a moment later and then, under her breath…. "And it starts now."

Clark blinked, realizing that the kiss had really just been the start of their charade this morning. He nodded briefly and followed her into the Talon.

* * *

Lois walked into the Talon and sighed as she saw how full it was. She hadn't wanted to do this with so many witnesses.

"Lois?" Clark rested a hand on the small of her back and spoke softly into her ear.

She leaned back against his chest, "Yes?"

"You okay?"

She blinked, "I'm good. Where do you want to sit?"

He pointed to a booth in the corner, away from the crowds but completely open to perusing eyes; he wanted the Talon to know they were there obviously.

Lois began to walk to the table, "A little exposed, isn't it?"

"Not for what we need to do," he sat down, looking back at her, "Lois? You sitting down or are you staying there?"

Lois looked at the booth in horror, "This is too cozy Clark. People are going to think…"

"Whatever they want to think," he murmured softly as she sat down next to him.

She ran a hand through her hair, "And I guess we want them to think what I know they're going to think about."

"Exactly," he sighed, his hand falling over hers and stroking her hand with his thumb.

She looked at it pointedly, "What is that?"

"What is what?" he picked up the menu from the table and began to look at it.

"That," she looked at her hand pointedly.

His thumb stopped but he didn't let go of her hand, "It's a sign of possession. In western culture, many men touch their girlfriends in affection not only because it's pleasant but because it gives a signal to the other men in the room that she's taken."

He caught the almost horrified look she shot him, "I know, I know. You're not someone's possession, but right now if we're going to pull this off enough so that Lex's security, who just walked in," he looked up and looked down quickly, "goes away, we're going to have to pretend that you are."

A beat passed before Lois responded, looking over at the menu he was holding, "You sure you want to play it that way? This isn't the 50's, Clark. Women are perfectly capable of taking 'possession' of men."

"That's not the way it was with Lana."

"Yeah, well I'm not Lana, am I?" she murmured with a smile and looked up from the menu, "Maybe this is why you and I work and you and she didn't."

"Lois….wha…."

She glared at him, flipping her head backwards towards the spot where Lex's goon was sitting. Clark looked closer and spotted the listening device in his hand.

'How did you….?' He mouthed at Lois.

She shook her head, 'Later,' and, a moment later, spoke aloud, "I think I'll have the crepes with the bananas and the chocolate spread."

He smiled, "That's not breakfast, that's dessert."

"Then why is it on the breakfast menu?" she smiled back. "I suppose you're going to have what you always have."

"And what's so wrong with what I normally have?"

"Nothing," she teased, moving closer to him in the booth not only because it afforded her a better view of Lex's head of security, but also because it placed her closer to Clark, "If you like boring and predictable."

"So what if I do?" he shot back, Lois' teasing contagious.

She shrugged, "Well, you can't like it that much. You're going out with me."

"Yeah," he sighed, "I am, aren't I?"

She bit her lip and looked up, not surprised to see in his eyes that he was about to kiss her. She WAS surprised to find that she was looking forward to it.

He dropped a quick but thorough kiss on her lips.

* * *

From across the room, Lana watched the kiss with a hint of jealousy. Clark was comfortable with Lois, even though she knew he had to sense the man on the other side of the room currently surveilling every move he and Lois made.

She sighed and turned her attention back to the latte she was nursing. She should be thankful he had such a good friend to do this for them because if he hadn't, well, she would still be living with her mistakes and regretting every minute of them.

"Lana?"

She looked up and smiled in what he hoped was a convincing way, "Lex, what are you doing here?"

He held up a coffee in a take out container, "Someone in the kitchen broke the French press this morning so I decided to come into town."

Lana sat back in her chair, "I find it hard to believe that a man like you wouldn't have a spare somewhere in the house."

He shrugged, "I'm just an average guy, Lana. Sometimes I need to improvise when I want a coffee."

"An average guy, huh? Do all average guys have Porshe's and own multi-billion dollar companies?"

"Okay," he smiled back, "So maybe I'm not so average. But I DID have the last French press die on me this morning."

"Killed you mean," she teased, "By a well meaning chef, I'm sure."

"Oh of course," he took a sip of his coffee and smiled, "So what are you doing here? Someone murder your coffee maker too?"

"No," she shook her head and looked over to Clark and Lois who were now leaning towards each other over the menu that had somehow gotten to their table all on its lonesome.

"Are you here because of them?" Lex cut into her self-imposed fit of jealousy.

"No!" she retorted and then, more in control, "No. I just happened to be here when they came in and….." she cut herself off as they kissed again, "I can't seem to leave now."

She looked up at him, "It's like I enjoy putting myself through this."

"Do you?"

"No," she murmured, looking up at him, "He's happy and…the break up was my idea anyway."

"He was cheating on you, Lana."

"Doesn't matter. I'm moving on," she grimaced as she swallowed the last of her coffee, reaching behind her for her jacket on the back of the chair. "What are you doing tonight, Lex? I think I want to celebrate my freedom…"

* * *

Lois looked up from Clark's lips and sighed, "Alright, they're gone."

Clark leaned back, "Like, gone gone? Did they take the…uh, other guy with them?"

"No, but he and Lana just left."

He breathed out a frustrated sigh, "What is she doing with him anyway?"

"Moving on, I'd imagine," she drawled out, "Just like you are."

She leaned in closer, whispering so low that only he could hear her, "Throwing him off the trail. This is part of the plan."

He raised an eyebrow, surprised.

She nodded, "Ask her later."

"Alright," he murmured.

Lois rubbed the hand she still hadn't let go of with her thumb and sighed.

He smiled, looking pointedly at the hand.

She stifled an embarrassed laugh and, thoughts of Lex's head of security falling out of her head said, "Yeah, you're mine, Smallville."


	14. Chapter 13

**Part 13: Plans**

He should have been surprised when he walked in from doing the chores the next morning to find that Lois was in the kitchen but he wasn't, not really. After what had happened the previous day, it was to be expected.

He looked at her warily, "Lois, what are you doing here?"

She smiled at him over the rim of her coffee mug, "Why Smallville, is that a hint of fear I hear in your voice?"

He sat down at the table next to her, "Can you blame me? Every time we meet like this you seem to have some crazy thing you're expecting me to do."

"Not every time," she retorted indignantly.

"Lately?" he raised an eyebrow, "It's been every time. And that's even counting the social calls which, I'm pretty sure, this is not."

"Oh shut up. This is all for you, you know."

He grimaced, remembering the day before in the Talon. They had pretended to be a couple all morning, going from the Talon after breakfast to Main St where they had taken a leisurely walk and, in Lois' case, a window shop. So coupl-ey were they that it wasn't long before Lex's head of security wasn't the only one watching them.

Lois had been uncharacteristically ruffled by the attention they had received and Clark had had to take her back to the farm and feed her hot chocolate and his mother's chocolate truffle cheesecake before she had been calm enough to go back to her apartment.

He sighed, feeling the weight of what she was doing for him-for Lana as well-heavy on his shoulders, "So I've been told. But seriously, what's the occasion? This is two mornings in a row you've come out here."

She looked at him and put on her best innocent expression, "Can't I just show up because I like the company?"

He shot her a look.

"Alright fine," she shrugged. Apparently Clark didn't want to play this morning, "I'm here because Lana called me last night to set up another date."

"Lana called you?"

"Unfortunately," she replied, "Apparently she spent the whole night with Lex pouring out her soul to him about how much she's been hurt by all this and he was so supportive that when he went into his study to 'get something'," Lois inserted air brackets at this point for emphasis that Clark, shocked that Lana had spent the whole night with Lex, tuned out, "And she overheard him call his head of security and tell him to take the night off tonight."

She looked to Clark for his reaction but only got a blank stare, "That's a very good thing in case you were wondering."

"Now how do you figure that? So he's taking the night off. Everyone gets a night off."

She pressed forward, "It's a good thing because it means that maybe he's starting to put the whole 'flying man' thing aside in favor of another project."

This, to Clark, seemed extremely unlikely considering how long Lex had hung onto the file about him and his family years ago, "Another project? I'm confused…what other project?"

Lois looked at him pointedly, willing him to think of what she meant so that she didn't have to tell him.

He looked back at her, that confused look he had been sporting for the last few minutes still there.

She exhaled impatiently, "Lana, Clark. I mean Lana."

Clark, who had to be stupid if he hadn't realized this earlier, blinked, "He wants Lana?"

"Of course he wants Lana, Clark! Everyone and their dog wants Lana in this town," she retorted sarcastically. "Surely you're aware of this."

He shifted uncomfortably. He was, had been since he was a teenager but since he had started dating Lana he had purposely put it out of his mind; she was dating him after all and there was no need to feel threatened when he had no real reason to, "I guess…."

"Well, they do and most importantly, he does too and this works in your favor because he won't be watching you and me as much if he's watching Lana."

"Lois, that doesn't make any sense," he leaned forward, "If Lana and I are sneaking around and he's watching her, he's eventually going to find out that she and I are still dating and that I'm the one who's been flying around Smallville."

"Not if we do this correctly," she stood up from the table. "Tonight, I'm staying at the farm and you are going to stay at my apartment. Lana will join you there about 8ish and during that time, I will be keeping track of Lex's head of security with the tracking device I planted in his trunk while you were covering the bill for breakfast."

He raised an incredulous eyebrow at her, "Wha….when did you have time to do that?"

She looked at him indulgently, "When I went to the bathroom. Instead of going to the ladies room I slipped out the staff entrance into the back alley and then right out onto main street. He never noticed and neither did you which is good for us because it looks like you and Lana have a lot to talk about if you're ever going to make this work.

Anyway, I'm going to keep an eye on him-but, again, I really don't think he's going to be a problem considering he has the night off-and Lana's going to meet you. You're then going to have a long, meaningful discussion and completely clear the air and the angst, from your relationship so that I don't have to hear about it anymore."

"Gee, Lois, and I thought you cared…."

"Oh I do. Believe me I wished I didn't otherwise we wouldn't be doing," she waved her hands between herself and Clark, "What we're doing but you two need to work on this.

She paused a beat, "And whatever you do, don't let her fool you into thinking that it can be solved with sex. Not only do I not want it to happen in my bed, but I think you were right when you said that the two of you aren't ready for it again."

He nodded, grimacing, "Yeah."

"And another thing…."

"Lois!" he cut in.

She blinked at him, "What?"

"I'll be fine. Thanks for your concern," he cleared his throat, "I don't know why you're doing this but…..thanks. For everything."

She nodded, "Just looking out for you."

"And I appreciate it more than you'll ever know," he sighed and leaned forward further, his elbows finding their way to the table. "So….are you okay after yesterday? I know you were a little…."

"Nervous?" she interrupted, "Yeah, I was. I'm fine though. Today I mean. Yesterday I was fine too just…..not as fine as today. The chocolate helped by the way. It…calmed me down somewhat," she shrugged, "It's kind of ridiculous how I acted yesterday actually. I mean, I'm fine when it comes to kissing you but I can't handle a little intimacy? Oh the things my cousin would have had to say about that. If it was her in my place, I'm sure she would have had no problems playing the part."

"Hey. Chloe would have been just as freaked out," he assured her quietly, "Probably more so and she wouldn't have been able to kiss me without laughing."

"That's what I can't figure out though. We kiss all the time in public, so what was the problem with the Talon?"

Clark went silent a moment, thinking.

"It's not like it was real either," Lois continued. "It was fake, just like the making out and the 'sex' we've been fooling people into thinking we're having. Treating you like my boyfriend instead of a friend with benefits shouldn't be this difficult."

"Lois, how close did you and your boyfriends get?"

She opened her mouth to tell him that it was none of his business and almost immediately shut her mouth again, nodding before speaking, "Not very. It was pretty physical. One of them became emotional though. On his part."

"He was in love with you?"

She nodded, "But I didn't love him. Daddy wanted me to go out with him because he was one of his best officers and I needed a date for the military ball at the base. One thing led to another…."

"Okay, stop. I don't need to hear about it."

She looked at him mischievously, "You asked about it, I'm going to tell you about it. If I can stand hearing about Lana than you can stand hearing about my dating misadventures."

"This story doesn't end how I think it's going to end, does it?"

"What? You mean in his back seat or in the field next to the hall the dance was held in? No. I went out with him, he asked me out again, I felt guilty so I accepted and he asked me out again. We did this for a month before I got up the courage to tell him I had no feelings for him."

"Ouch, Lois. That's harsh."

"That's life," she shrugged. "Sometimes you've got to rip the bandage off instead of doing it gently. For one, it doesn't take as long; it might sting like a bitch but at least it's over with quickly.

The other boyfriend, on the other hand, didn't need a bandage. That one was all about rebellion."

"What do you mean?"

"I was the General's daughter and Jack was the son of his second in command. He took me to his prom and things happened. That was it for that one."

Clark shook his head, "Somehow I can't imagine you having a one night stand with someone."

She nodded, "It's amazing what anger can do. Not that I'm the only one guilty of breaching proper dating etiquette at some point or another. Didn't you and Chloe once go for second base during the talon's morning rush?"

"It was the afternoon rush actually and once is the operative word," Clark said regretfully. Regretfully not only because he really didn't want to talk about what he and Chloe had done on their adrenalin spree years ago but also because he wanted to hear more about this Jack character who had supposedly taken Lois' virginity.

In regards to the Chloe thing, well, it wasn't as if he wished they had dated more, it was just that if he had known how few years they would have had left to be friends he probably would have given them more of a chance after that first date of theirs back in freshman year. And, while he probably would have still run off to save Lana, he didn't think he would have blown Chloe off in favor of this quite so many times.

"That's true," Lois agreed, "But still, if this were Chloe in my place she would have…."

"Lois, I know what you're doing," he stopped her, placing a hand on top of hers. "This shouldn't be about what Chloe would have done. She's gone. And," he raised his eyes to look at hers, begging her with them to stop comparing herself to a dead woman, "I think you're doing a fantastic job protecting me. Not many people would do that."

"Clark," she moved her chair closer, "You're my best friend. I'm not just going to stand back and watch Lex out you to the world when you're not ready for that. He'd lock you up, or at least someone else would, and I'd never see you again. I can't let that happen."

He moved his chair closer too, "You don't know how much I appreciate that."

"I think I might actually," she shrugged, remembering the weeks directly after Chloe's death. Like Clark after the funeral, she had isolated herself, falling into the rhythm of work and home without doing any of the social things she did before. Weeks had passed until Clark, after one memorable afternoon spent trying to coax her into joining him for a movie, had skipped the niceties and kidnapped her from her apartment, coming right in, putting her over his shoulder and super-speeding them to the farmhouse where he had made her eat dinner with his family and then watch a movie before he finally gave in to her demands and taken her home. "After Chloe died, I didn't realize how much I needed a friend but you," she shook her head, "You knew."

"We both needed a friend."

"Smallville," she glared at him good-naturedly; he was always trying to waive off complements. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah," he sighed, "I do."

She cleared her throat, "Now. If we're all done the touchy feely portion of our morning, I have to run back to the apartment to check for bugs."

"Do you need some help?" He watched as she stood up and then followed her lead.

She slanted a grin in his direction, "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

"So let me get this straight," he looked around the apartment at the preparations she had performed for tonight. "You're actually going to let us use your apartment for this?"

Lois adjusted the plates on the table they had just set, "If by 'this' you mean an evening of conversation followed by PG cuddling on the couch, then yes, I'm actually going to let you use my apartment for this. Remember the rule, Clark, there will be no sex in this apartment."

"Lois, I told you already, Lana and I aren't going there yet so you have nothing to worry about."

"Oh so you say now," she rolled her eyes.

"Well, I mean it. It's not happening."

"Good."

He sighed, opening his mouth to elaborate seconds later but, at the last moment, choosing not to. There wasn't much to say, after all, when the woman pretending to be his girlfriend set up a date with his actual girlfriend and told him not to have sex with her in her apartment. It was a reasonable request.

And it also got him off the hook.

It wasn't that he was against sex; it was just that, at the moment at least, he was strongly against sex with Lana. A relationship, in his mind, should be based upon love-both physical and emotional-and friendship. Unfortunately for them, while he had been friends with Lana once, he had been suffering from a serious crush at the time and therefore he didn't count this as friendship. Physically they had been compatible but there had never been the emotional trust he had wanted. Not that this hadn't been preventable. If he had told her his secret when they started dating, the emotional trust he craved would have fallen into place soon enough.

He cleared his throat and opened his mouth, his mind demanding that he move on from the depressing subject he was dwelling on, "So what are you going to do tonight while I have this deep, meaningful conversation you've planned out for Lana and I?"

"Oh I don't know," she stopped setting the table and looked at him, "Watch a movie with your parents, enjoy your Mom's cooking. I might go to bed early actually."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yep," she smiled at him, "It will be. Martha and I just might convince your Dad to watch a chick flick instead of an action movie this time."

He shook his head and smiled back, "If you do, let me know. I can't remember the last time Mom was able to do that."

"That's because you weren't there."

"What? You mean you've done it before?"

"Once. Your Mom and I guilted him into it," she furrowed her brow in thought, "Not sure if that's going to work again. He's on to us."

He watched as Lois adjusted the silverware one more time, "I'll bet."

"Speaking of being on to us," Lois looked at her watch and crossed the room hurriedly to her computer. "Let's check and see what our friendly neighbourhood spy is up to tonight."

"Lois," he followed her into the living room, "He wouldn't be moving around THAT much; I checked for bugs, remember? And he took the night off."

"Still," she murmured as she waited for the page to upload. "You never know if he changed his mind or not."

"About a night off? Unlikely."

She typed in a password, and then another. "And there we have it; Mr. Security is...in Grandville as we speak and far away from Smallville."

"Told you."

She glared at him "I could have just as easily been right."

"But you weren't."

"No, I wasn't. Now, are you going to go home to primp for tonight or do I have to put up with you while I put the last of the surprises on the apartment?"

"No, no," he chuckled, raising his hands in the air. "We're good now."

"Alright then," she stood up and started towards the door, opening it when she reached it, "Now get out before I have to do something drastic."

"Since I don't want to find out what that is," he stood up and followed her lead, "I think I'll take your 'suggestion' and get out of here until tonight. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning?"

"You better," she crossed her arms and leaned against the door, "I'll want details by that point."

Clark simply laughed, "Good bye Lois."

"Bye Clark."


	15. Chapter 14

**Part 14: Revelations and Rehashings**

Clark entered the farmhouse the next morning and winced as the door creaked closed behind him. After the night he had had, he had wanted to slip in unnoticed-at least by his parents. He didn't want to have to go through the litany of questions they would have for him about how the night had gone and then, because they cared about his wellbeing and happiness (something he had to remind himself time and again when their questions got too personal), they would very likely ask him (in a roundabout sort of way) how happy he was feeling about what he was doing with both Lois and Lana.

And that was a question he really didn't feel like answering.

Truth be told, last night had been less like a meeting of people who had been dating for years and more of a first date, something he couldn't determine was a good thing or a bad thing. Judging from the way he had been feeling when he was with Lois lately, he was willing to bet it fell in the latter category.

He had been feeling WAY too at home with Lois when they were out pretending like they were dating and he had been hoping that the evening Lana had had her set up would help clear the air for him. Instead, it had only managed to disappoint him. Lana had been wonderful and he had come into the evening with the best intentions but….something about it had just fallen short for him.

He only wished he could pinpoint exactly what it had been so he could fix it before he began to cheat on Lana in mind as well as body, however unwittingly.

"Clark?"

He cursed under his breath, the hope of being able to come home unnoticed gone, "Yeah Dad?"

His father came around the corner from the kitchen and smiled, "How'd it go?"

He examined his father's expression, gauging how much he should reveal, "It was alright. We talked at least. Cleared the air."

"And?"

"And," he shrugged, not knowing what else he could say without making his father sit him down for a 'conversation' that greatly resembled an interrogation, "It went okay. We talked. A lot. She left about two and then I went to bed. How'd it go here?"

"With Lois?" his father raised an eyebrow, "Good, as always. Your mother made a roast."

Clark let out a groan; he always seemed to be out of the house on the nights his mother made roast, "And pie? Tell me she didn't make pie."

"She did but," Jonathan interrupted the second groan that had followed the first, "There's a second one in the fridge and she made sure to serve the coconut cream last night and save you the cherry."

"You guys are the best," he shook his head, turning to hang his jacket up in the closet.

"We try but you should really thank Lois for it; she doesn't like cherry," Jonathan Kent murmured, examining his son carefully, sensing in the slump of his shoulders and the weary expression on his face (even after the night of sleep he claimed he had gotten) that something had gone wrong. He cleared his throat, "You sure there's nothing you need to talk about, Son?"

Clark turned a surprised look on his father, his gaze softening as he realized how transparent he must be right now. The fact that his father had always been able to read his moods wasn't helping his case either. He sighed, realizing that a little bit of truth-or at the very least, evasion-would be good enough to get him out of a full conversation about it right now, "Can I get back to you on that one, Dad? I'm still trying to process everything we talked about last night. It was a bit intense."

His father nodded slowly, "Anytime you're ready, Clark."

"Thanks," he nodded gratefully and, suddenly realizing how quiet the house was, he looked around.

"She's still asleep," his father cut in. "Your mother and she were watching a movie last night and it went late."

"A chick flick?" a wry grin grew on his face; Lois had warned him that she might get his father to watch one of those but he hadn't believed it possible.

"Yeah," Jonathan winced.

The grin grew wider, "I'm guessing you got to watch it too, then?"

"Parts of it; I begged off early because of chores that had to be done this morning."

Clark shook his head, still smiling, "You're too soft, Dad."

"I'm too soft? Wasn't Lois able to drag you to that movie marathon the other day?"

The smile faded, "That was for other reasons."

Jonathan Kent mentally kicked himself. Apparently things hadn't just gone bad last night-they had gone awful if the expression on his sons face was any indication. He sighed, "Well, regardless, your old man isn't going soft. We all do things for the people we care about and sometimes it just happens to involve a romantic comedy or two."

"Two? She talked you into two?" Clark teased, successfully putting his father's mind at ease in one move.

He narrowed his eyes in mock annoyance, "Shut up, Clark."

Clark grinned back in response and shifted his bag on his shoulders.

"So what are your plans for today?" Jonathan leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms.

"Well," Clark let his arm prop his body against the banister, "I'm going to go put my things away and then I think I'm going to drag Lois into town for the fair."

Jonathan raised an eyebrow, "That's brave of you. Any reason why?"

"Besides enjoying watching Lois squirm?" he joked, getting serious after a moment, "Lana mentioned that Lex's head of security was going to be watching the farm today and I thought it would be better to get him away from here and out into a public place."

His father nodded, apprehensive relief jumping to the forefront of his mind, "That sounds logical."

"And," Clark continued, "Truth be told, I think I need a distraction. Spending the day with my best friend might just do the trick."

Jonathan winced, his sons words reminding him of the conversation he had had with his wife the night before while Lois had been in the other room. They were both concerned, especially since Lois had agreed to do this 'Clark's way,' that the immovable line that had existed in the precarious and constantly shifting relationship they had cultivated since they day they had met would be crossed and the relationship would be over.

And since Chloe had died they had no one to help put it back together again.

"Clark," his father approached the subject delicately, "You know when you're out today you're going to have to pretend for Lex's head of security, right?"

"I know that, Dad," Clark shrugged the truth his father his just thrown at him aside. "Since we're doing this my way now….it kind of makes things easier."

Jonathan shook his head, unsure, "If you say so."

Clark caught his father's eye and held it pointedly, "Dad, I know you're worried about me but you shouldn't be. Lois and I have it under control and Lex isn't going to discover anything I don't want him to discover."

"It's not that," his father shook his head, "I'm just concerned how this is going to affect what you and Lois have made of your friendship. Since Chloe died, she's become, well, a lot more than Chloe or Pete ever were to you. She's….."

"A lot to me, I know," Clark interrupted him, "Don't worry. We're being careful about this. No lines are being crossed."

His father's eyebrows rose incredulously but he chose not to comment. In his opinion, the line had been crossed a long time ago and he wasn't looking forward to having to butt in and help pick up whatever was left of them when they finally realized it. Instead, he simply nodded and thanked whoever was listening that Clark had been looking elsewhere when he had raised his eyebrows, "Alright. But if they do start to be crossed, you need to put a stop to this. Your mother and I can help you find another way to hide your powers."

"Dad, we're fine," he argued.

"Clark, just let me be concerned, would you? It's what I do."

"Fine," Clark let out a brief sigh out through his nose and nodded, "I'm going to go put my things away, alright?"

"Sure, Son."

He turned to the stairs and began to climb them, stopping when he reached the third step before turning back to look at his father; despite knowing that he was wrong (Lois and he would never cross that line if they could help it so there really wasn't anything to worry about), he appreciated the concern, "Dad?"

"Yeah, Clark?"

"Thanks," he sighed, smiling hesitantly but honestly, "It means a lot that you care."

Jonathan returned the smile being sent his way, "Anytime."

* * *

Lois woke up as the bed shifted and groaned aloud as, one eye cracked open, she saw who it was.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead."

She buried her head back against the pillow, "What are you doing here so early, Smallville?"

"Payback's a bitch, Lois," he grinned. "Now get up. We've got things to do and people to see."

She breathed out a half whine into the pillow, "But why? What could we possibly have to do today?"

"Things," he replied. "At the Fair. Where people will see us being a couple and will in no way suspect that we're playing a part. And….Lois! Wake up!"

She burrowed deeper under the covers in response, her breathing growing deeper by the second.

"Fine," he stood up, "Have it your way."

Grabbing a corner of the cover, he yanked.

"Hey!" she reached blindly for the blanket, getting a handful as a result and trying to pull it back onto her. "Smalllville, cut it out!"

"Seriously, Lois," he pulled the blanket easily out of her grasp, "Places to go, people to see and security guards to make believe you're madly in love with me."

"We're not good enough actors for that," she gave up on sleep and rolled to the side of the bed, tossing the one sheet that still covered her aside and standing up. "I'm going to need a shower before we can go anywhere, you know that, right? And breakfast. Do you think you could go start that while I….Clark?"

She turned, his silence bothering her, her mind dropping its concerned veneer when she saw him starring at her, "What?"

Clark looked her up and down, "Do you always sleep in that?"

She looked down at herself, taking in her tank top and underwear. It had been a hot night so she had forgone the pajama bottoms she normally wore in favor of her underwear. Knowing from the look on his face (proving that, if she hadn't already realized it, Clark was actually a guy and not just her girl-friend shaped like a guy) he was getting nervous from it. Fun could be had from this situation….she cleared her throat as she shook her head, "Not usually. Common courtesy dictates that you don't sleep naked in your host's bed so I put these on."

Clark nearly swallowed his tongue, "Naked?"

"Sometimes. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No!" he spat out hastily, "No. I'm, uh, glad that you're comfy enough to, uh…."

Lois gave up the joke, deciding to put him out of his misery, "Relax, Clark. I don't sleep naked and I wouldn't have done it in your bed even if I did."

He relaxed but his brain, suddenly flooded with the idea of Lois naked in his bed, continued to draw him pictures that sat a mile past the line he knew he and Lois were allowed to cross, "That's….good."

She eyed him carefully for a moment before blowing air out of her mouth in exasperation, "Yeah. Good. So," she walked over to his desk and began pulling items out of her bag. "What are your big plans for this Fair of yours?"

"Oh, um," he forcibly locked up the illicit images of Lois in his brain and pulled himself back into reality, "Lana was mentioning that Lex's head of security was going to be watching the farm today and I figured, what with everything else that's going on…."

"….and the fact that you need to be practicing your flying sometime soon…" she cut in.

"Right," he continued, "That we could give him a distraction. You know, go out, see and be seen…."

"…and hopefully put him off the trail so if we sneak off tonight to practice that he won't notice anything," Lois finished. "I like this plan. It's a good plan."

He nodded, an eyebrow raised in her direction, "Lois, you're not coming with me tonight. We've done that before and I'm not risking you getting hurt. If Lex is there…."

"…Then he's there," she turned from the desk and looked at him, "And you'll need an alibi if you get caught again."

"He's not going to buy that we're sneaking out to make out in a field for a second time. We're 'out', remember? People know and we don't have to hide."

"Maybe we like having sex in corn fields. Maybe it's our thing."

"Lois!"

"Enough with the noble crap, Clark. I'm still going with you," she continued, gathering the bundle of toiletries she now held into her arms and moving to leave the room.

He followed her, "Lois, I'm serious here."

"And so am I," she entered the bathroom and turned to look at him. He stared at her and, after a moment, she rolled her eyes, "Are you coming in or do I have to shower with the door open?"

"Coming in? Lois, we shower separately in this house, remember?" he reminded her, entering the bathroom anyway and closing the door halfway.

"Note that I didn't invite you into the shower with me," she drawled sarcastically, motioning with a hand for him to turn around so she could take her clothes off and get in.

He did as he was asked, "I know but…."

"But nothing," she interjected, sliding the curtain back and turning on the water before getting under the spray and sliding it shut again. "You need to lighten up, Clark."

"I don't need to lighten up," he sat down on the closed toilet and looked at the door. "I'm light enough as it is."

She let out a snort of laughter that she knew he could hear as she wet her hair, "Right. Keep telling yourself that."

"I'm serious!" he protested.

"I know. That's the problem."

He sighed, purposefully keeping silent so as not to lose his temper. He knew how much Lois liked driving him to that. "Lois…."

She reached for the shampoo and poured some into her hands, "Whatever, Clark. Let's move on…"

"Sure."

"…to how your date with Lana went last night."

He let out a groan, "How 'bout we don't?"

"Ooh," she scrubbed her hair vigorously before leaning back to rinse the soap out. "I'm going to take that as an 'it didn't go well.'"

"Actually, it did."

She finished rinsing and reached for the conditioner, "Clark, generally when a person sounds and acts like you've been acting all morning it means that it didn't go well."

"Well it did."

"Right. So tell me about it then."

"Well," he let out a breath, "We had dinner first and then we talked until about 2 in the morning. Then she left, and I went to bed."

"Clark, it's wonderful how well you can recount things but I was looking for some more details than that. Let me know, at least a little, that this date I helped set up for you actually was worth the effort it took to arrange it."

"Oh it was," he was quick to reassure her. "You have nothing to worry about that."

"Then why do I get the impression that I should be?"

"Lois, you really don't….." he trailed off as the door opened a bit, "Mom?"

"Clark?" his mother entered the bathroom, looking around with a funny look on her face. "What are you doing in here?"

"Keeping me company," Lois popped her head around the curtain. "Don't worry though; his virtue's safe with me."

She snapped the curtain shut, leaving Clark and his mother to stare at each other, "Clark?"

"It's okay, Mom. We're just having a conversation."

"About how his night went," Lois cut in again, leaning back to rinse out the conditioner. "You wouldn't believe what he's decided not to talk about."

His mother looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "Do you two have conversations in here often?"

Clark blushed hotly, the innuendo in her voice apparent even to him, "Not often. Today was just….special."

"Yeah. Special like his date that he won't tell me about," Lois finished with the water and shut it off, wringing out her hair before thrusting a hand from behind the shower curtain. Clark quickly filled it with a towel and then turned back towards his mother.

His mother took in the domesticity in front of her and had to stifle a laugh. "Well, I should probably get out of here before she comes out so….have fun kids. It's good to see you getting along so well."

"Bye Mrs. Kent," Lois called from behind the shower curtain, only swinging it open when the door closed.

Clark turned to Lois and glared, "I hope you're happy. She already thought that something was going on between us but after this?"

"What do you mean she thinks that something's going on between us?" she walked over to the sink, towel wrapped tightly around her body, and picked up her hairbrush. "Of course something's going on between us. I'm pretending to be your girlfriend."

"Mom doesn't seem to think it's an act," he interjected.

She straightened her towel and looked at him straight in the eye, "What if it's not?"

His eyes widened, "Lois?"

She looked downwards, her posture and the way her wet hair fell in her eyes making her look younger and more innocent than he knew she was. After a moment, she looked up, "Clark, what if I told you I've had feelings for you for a long time and that this isn't an act?"

"Lois…."

"No," she cut him off, scoffing at herself, "Never mind. I know you don't feel the same way. This IS just an act for you."

She drew closer to him, breathing out a deep sigh and biting the corner of her lip, "It's just that….I wish it wasn't."

Clark blinked, his heart impossibly plummeting and leaping at the same time. Lois had feelings for him. Real feelings; feelings that weren't made up by Lana and herself to make his secret stay a secret, "Lois, I….I don't know what to say."

She drew closer still, her lips getting so close to his that he could feel her breath, "Then don't say anything at all."

He leaned down to kiss her and…

….she pulled back, grinning, and patted his arm, "See? Oscar-worthy. No wonder your mom's drinking the Kool-Aid."

She moved past him, "Just give me fifteen minutes to get dressed and dry my hair and I'll meet you downstairs, okay?"

Clark, who was still working on trying to breathe after that brief moment of crazy and unexpected wonderful-ness, could only nod and watch as she left.

He stepped outside the bathroom and drew the door shut, his eyes widening a moment later as he realized what had just happened-and what he was now feeling.

"Oh no," he murmured as his mind kindly pointed out to him exactly what he was feeling-and the moments his mind had gone to places that could officially be called fantasy.

Fantasies about his best friend who, if he wasn't mistaken, he had feelings for.

He grimaced and glanced towards the closed door of his bedroom.

This had just gotten complicated.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15: Cotton Candy Kisses**

Lois shut the bedroom door behind her, waiting for the click and the telltale signs of Clark's footsteps moving away before leaning back against it, closing her eyes…..and letting out the shuddering breath she had been holding in since she had left Clark in the bathroom.

The 'performance' she had put in had only been a way for her to show him that they COULD act that way. It wasn't supposed to make her WANT to be that way with him. It had been all she could do though, when his lips were about to touch hers, to back away.

She let out a small groan as her mind replayed that moment for her; she had wanted him to kiss her. Wanted Clark Kent-the man she was currently helping dupe Smallville into believing that they were dating while simultaneously keeping a secret relationship with his ex going-to kiss her breathless.

And possibly more.

This was bad; this was very very bad.

A louder groan escaped her as she pushed herself off of the door and moved towards where she had thrown her bag last night. Despite how she might feel (although her feelings were so scrambled right now she could hardly piece together logically what was real and what wasn't in her head) there was no time for wallowing in her own misplaced feelings. Clark had been right about one thing: they DID have places to go, people to see….and a certain billionaire and his staff to make believe that she was madly in love with him.

In short then, she didn't have time for indulging herself in what might have been her minds attempt to forge a deeper connection between herself and the man who had become what was probably the closest thing she had ever had to a BFF. She and Clark had bigger fish to fry today.

She just hoped she could keep the feelings she was struggling with to herself while they did it.

* * *

Like the stereotypical boyfriends of the 50's, Clark, upon arriving at the Smallville Fair had made it his unspoken mission to win her a stuffed animal.

And he had succeeded.

Twice.

She might have even been happy about it if it hadn't been for a combination of people they had seen at the Fair that had successfully drained every ounce of fun out of her hokey day with Clark. Not only had two of Lex's security guards been there, but so had Lex and Lana, the latter hanging off the arm of the former so tightly she couldn't tell where his arm began and hers ended. Clark hadn't noticed, fortunately, and she had spent the rest of the afternoon making sure he didn't. She would have succeeded too if not for his impromptu trip to the concession stand to buy cotton candy for them. Lois had watched him pay for it, turn around to leave and bumped right into Lex Luthor.

And they had been talking for the past ten minutes.

Impatiently, she shifted the plush teddy bear and rabbit in her arms and tried not to roll her eyes when she spotted Clark coming back from his trip with the cotton candy, a snack she hadn't ever felt the need to eat, let alone buy. He grinned as he joined her and tilted the sweet confection in her direction.

She really did roll her eyes now, her feelings for him becoming more clear as she fell back into 'just friends' mode, "Clark, when do we get to leave Pleasantville and return to reality?"

He held the cotton candy closer to her, "First off, I know this is a little bit hokey but this is Smallville. Be thankful I've never made you go to the Corn Festival. And secondly, when you stop being so uptight."

She raised an eyebrow and took a piece of the insistently offered pink fluff, putting a piece in her mouth before continuing, "I'm uptight? Clark, if we shoved a lump of coal up your ass, in two weeks we'd have a diamond. I'm not the uptight one."

"Well, you're doing a fine impression of it. You've been preoccupied with something since we got here," he shifted uncomfortably, looking around for Mr. Security (as they had decided to call him), "And stop quoting 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.'"

"If the quotation fits…" she trailed off, pasting a smile on her face, "I spent much of today trying to keep you from finding out that those two were here," she motioned back to the area where Clark had been talking to Lex and Lana, "Besides, I'm not the one who spent the last ten minutes talking to them. You're not looking so perky either."

He grimaced and began to walk, Lois going with him, "You saw that, did you?"

"And looked suitably pissed about it too," she nodded, refraining from mentioning that she HAD actually been pissed off. It was better he didn't know that anyways…. "That woman from the movie theatre gave me a smirk and everything."

He let out a ragged sigh, "Lois, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…."

"Clark, it's fine," she shrugged, "It was bound to happen again and really, if anything you've just help lay the groundwork for what's to come."

He stopped, looking at her, "What's to come?"

She looked around and lowered her voice biting her lip and making sure to keep a half smile on her face for the benefit of Mr. Security-who she had just spotted out of the corner of her eye, "What you've wanted from the day we set this up, remember? You and I break up, and you and Lana get back together."

Clark sighed, looking despondent. After his meeting with Lana and Lex while he had been buying the cotton candy, he was beginning to doubt that that would happen. In addition to this, he was also beginning to doubt if he wanted it to happen at all. Lana had changed and so had he and Lois….

….Lois was changing too.

She had come downstairs after he had left her to get dressed, fifteen minutes later, a sundress on and her hair still damp from the short blow dry she had given it. Then she had eaten breakfast with him- compliments of his mother-before getting into the truck and heading out to the fairgrounds. The whole process-including the part where Lois had made them brush their teeth in case she had to kiss him today- had taken all of about a half an hour.

The thing that had surprised him the most (other than how speedy she had been getting ready) was that, when she had gotten there, she hadn't seemed to have a good time.

Oh, she had had a good time at first but that had waned after awhile, leaving a tension he was unfamiliar with. He knew going in that that was probably a possibility and, like most things he made her do with him and vice versa, he had been prepared to combat the negativity with a teasing smile and a sarcastic comment but something about the way she had looked today had made that impossible. Maybe it had been Lex's presence or the weird vibe in the air he had been noticing since the bathroom but something was different.

Lois looked around at the people, noticing that they were drawing some looks. Her hand came up to cup his cheek in an action enough to draw him out of his thoughts and back to the situation at hand, "And now we're looking like I'm comforting you about Lana while at the same time gloating publically that I have you and she doesn't. Who says the two of us can't act?"

And that was it, Clark reflected as he smiled gently back and her and, in a practiced move, kissed her gently, not surprised in the least when Lois returned it. They were acting and that was why it felt weird. Apparently, they were trying too hard.

'Or maybe acting at the wrong thing,' he thought as he deepened the kiss and felt her surprise against his lips. She hesitated a moment before returning the action, her tongue leisurely making a slow exploration of his mouth while he returned the favor.

Lois had been right about one thing-they could do the physical side of this convincingly but the emotional was a completely different story.

She pulled back after a beat after the kiss had finally ended and rested her forehead against his, "Okay, now that's going to make it harder for people to believe it when you eventually break up with me."

He chuckled, "You looked like you needed it; you do better with the physical and I've made you do the emotional thing all day. You must be exhausted."

She raised an eyebrow at him, the first genuine smile he had seen all day on her face, "If I say yes does that mean we can ditch this and go back to the farm? If we hurry we can help your father finish the leftovers from last night."

He laughed harder and pulled her into a hug, "Sure, Lois. We can go back to the farm."

They began to walk again, Lois still tucked next to him possessively and that smile he had chosen not to comment on making her body just a little looser than it had been.

Not that he was noticing these things. No, right now he was not noticing her at all.

And failing horribly at it.

"You know, you ARE going to have to break up with me at some point," she mused, her brain choosing to dwell on this portion of her conversation rather than the large amount of tongue they had just slipped each other. "Have you thought about how you're going to do it?"

He turned questioning eyes on her, "Why can't you break up with me?"

"Yeah, like that's going to happen," she scoffed. "They already think I stole you away from Lana. If I drop you, that scarlet letter I'm metaphorically wearing across my chest? Yeah, it gets traded in for something far more serious and I will spend the rest of my time here in Smallville trying to convince this town that I'm not a two-timing bitch who steals men because I can and ditches them for the same reason."

"Lois, they won't…."

"Uh-huh," she tilted her head to one side and crossed her arms over her stuffed animals, "They will. So promise me now, Clark, when the time is right you'll break up with me and you'll do it in public so I gain at least a few pity points from the female population because I just got the coffee out of my shoes and I don't want to have to start the cleaning process all over again," she finished, looking up at him.

Clark shot her an indulgent look, her request throwing him for a loop. At this point in the game, breaking up with her was out of the question. She was the only thing (most days at least) that was keeping him from going completely crazy and just telling Lex what he'd been up to that night after he had been caught in the field. Furthermore, and most worrying, he just didn't want to. He liked kissing her (not that he would be telling her that anytime soon). As for the rest of the time they spent together-the time when they weren't pretending to be something they weren't- nothing had changed, "Sure Sweetie. How'd you like me to do it? I can insult you if you want."

She punched him in the arm playfully, "Stop being such a smart ass. It doesn't suit you."

"And self-less doesn't suit you," he replied, a hard edge to his voice. "Lois, when we break up, it will be in public, yes, but I'm not doing it in a way that's going to make you look like I'm making you feel bad or inadequate about it, okay?"

She forced a smile on her face as she noticed Mr. Security watching them again and continued to walk with Clark towards the parking lot.

"Lois?" he looked down, confused as to why she wasn't arguing with him, and caught where her eyes were looking. "Oh. He's still watching us?"

"Looks like."

"Do you still want to go out to the farm? He could follow us there."

She shrugged, "We could always go to my place for a bit. Throw him off the trail."

He nodded, agreeing with her idea, "And make the rest of the town believe we're still only in it for the sex. Yeah, Lois. Let's do that."

She glared at him, "Well what do you want to do then? Go back to the farm and take him with you? He WILL follow you, you know. Lex wants to know how heartbroken you are about his relationship with your ex girlfriend."

He shot her a withering look, "And having sex will supposedly cure this?"

She nodded, "It's called lashing out. Having sex with me would not only solve your physical tension but it'll send a message to Lex that you're externalizing your frustration about he and Lana and that, really, you want her."

"You know, sex must have a big mouth if it can say that much without saying anything at all."

"Hey, actions speak louder than words."

"Apparently," he finished, and let out a sigh as he extricated his keys from his pocket and opened the door to the truck. He got in and leaned over, manually unlocking Lois' side before leaning back and starting the truck.

She got in, sitting down besides him and doing up her seatbelt before looking at him.

"So we're going back to your place to have sex then?"

She shrugged, "In Mr. Security and Lex's eyes, yes. In reality we'll be playing Scrabble. And I'll be beating you. As usual."

"Just keep telling yourself that, Lois," he pulled into traffic, looking back and watching as 'Mr. Security' himself followed them out of the parking lot. "One of these days I'm going to beat you."

"Right Smallville. That'll be the day we really go back to my apartment and have sex," her eyes widened as the words flew out of her mouth, her cheeks flushing uncharacteristically as he watched her in shock.

To his credit, Clark refrained from asking if that was a challenge and Lois, grateful that he wasn't asking, chose not to tell him that she wouldn't mind if he beat her in Scrabble today.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16: Falling **

Lois peeked out of the window, looking for the car that had been following them all day. After a moment-during which time she didn't see the security guard who had been tailing them all day-she sighed in relief and came back inside.

"He's gone," she murmured, closing the window with a click.

"Really?" Clark raised an eyebrow and looked up at her from his position on the floor. He motioned towards the game board in front of him, "You're not just saying that because I'm getting closer to beating you, are you?"

"See for yourself then," she shrugged, furrowing her brow as she walked back over to where he was and peering down at the board. "And you are SO not close to beating me, Smallville. I'm up 20 points."

"Oh but in just a few moments," he got up and walked towards the window, "You were going to be much farther down."

She leaned over and looked at his pieces, "The question is how, Clark. You've got nothing."

"A)," he looked down at the empty street, "You're not supposed to be looking at my pieces and B)," he looked back at her briefly, smiling knowingly, "You don't know I don't have anything."

"Uh, yeah," she motioned to his pieces, "I'm looking at it and you don't."

He shot a glare at her before looking down at the street, "You're right; he's gone."

A grin climbed onto Lois' face as she continued to look at the board. Not only was her undefeated streak still ongoing but, instead of playing another round of Scrabble tonight, they just might end up doing something she had been looking forward to since the last time they had gotten the chance. She cleared her throat and tried not to look as giddy as she felt, "So does that mean what I think it means?"

Clark arched a small smile in her direction, "If you think it means it's time to go flying than yes, it does mean what you think it means. It feels like forever since I've been able to do anything except float around the house."

"That's wonderful," she walked towards him, her hands clasped together in what he knew was her impatient stance, "I get to go with you, right?"

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Lois, I…."

She cut his excuse off mid sentence, "No, Clark. You need me out there. And you told me that I could come earlier and…"

"But…"

"No buts," she crossed her arms and looked at him determinedly, "You promised."

He looked her in the eye, gauging how serious she was about all of this. And she WAS serious; he had quickly discovered her love of flying once the power had begun to develop and she wasn't about to let him forget it anytime soon, especially when he so rarely got the opportunity to do it away from the potentially prying eyes of Lex Luthor.

"Alright, alright," he murmured finally, "You can come."

"Naturally," she crossed the room to the closet and began to put on her coat and shoes, shooting him a mischievous look as she passed him.

"We need to stop by the farm first though," he called after her, not shocked in the least that she had known he would acquiesce to her request to go…but knowing he should be, "I thought we'd drive out in the truck just in case."

"That's a good idea," she agreed, "Play it safe."

"Yeah, well, it also gives us an excuse if Lex decides to show up."

She looked back incredulously at him, "And that excuse would be what exactly?"

He slipped on his jacket and looked at her pointedly before toeing on his shoes, "Moonlit picnic. Lana and I did that all the time."

"Are you serious?"

"Very."

She paused a moment before continuing the conversation, treading lightly for fear of inadvertently insulting her friend, "You know," she opened the door and let him out first before shutting and locking it behind them, "I think I probably should be frustrated, or at the very least annoyed that you're taking me to places and doing things with me that you did with your ex-girlfriend but in this case…."

He stopped on the stairway and leaned forward until his face was close to hers, "In this case you're going to let it slide because you want to fly more than you want to fight with me."

She sighed in resignation and continued to walk down the stairs, "You know me too well."

"Naturally…."

Her earlier, thoroughly presumptuous word thrown back at her, Lois simply glared at him over her shoulder.

* * *

Lana looked down at her watch and sighed, wondering exactly when the afternoon had turned into evening….and when Lex would decide that their 'date' was over, "Lex, what are we doing here?"

Lex turned his head towards hers and smiled, "Watching the stars, Lana. Why? Did you have other plans for this evening?"

She shifted next to him on the blanket and shook her head, "No. It's just…."

"This is something you did with Clark?" he finished the sentence for her, his voice with an unmistakable edge to it. He always did this to her when Clark's name got brought up in the conversation.

Lana bit her lip and tried to keep from laughing at the concerned and innocent look that, as soon as she had glanced at him, had suddenly come over her companion's face. She straightened her smile into something she hoped looked neutral, "Yeah, actually. It's just a little painful being out here in a place I remember being with him when I know that this is like the place where he took Lois to….." she cut herself off with a purse of her lips and looked down at her hands. "It's just hard."

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about that when I thought of this. Do you want to leave?" he sat up, his voice losing the edge as the possibility of him looking like the good, nice guy increased exponentially.

The more time she spent with him, the more she realized now that most, if not all, of his actions were designed to increase his chances of getting something out of whatever situation he was in. She nodded, "Do you mind?"

"No, no," he stood up and offered her a hand. "We could go to the Talon for some coffee if you want instead."

"That sounds good," she took the hand gratefully and stood up next to him, making sure to look at him when she smiled so that if he had any doubts as to why she didn't want to be out here right now they would disappear. Her gaze was temporarily distracted though by the dark pole on top of one of the rocks close to them. She furrowed her brow, "Lex, what is that?"

"What is what?"

"That," she pointed over his shoulder.

He looked back, "Oh that. I had almost forgotten I had that installed out here…you know that mysterious flying object I was telling you I saw out here the other night? Well, I thought I'd try to catch it and I figured this was the best way to do it."

"And which way is that?" she murmured, now trying to keep the terror his words invoked in her to herself. Clark was the mysterious flying object and she knew that, if things went well and he shook off the security guard, he was coming out here to practice his flying tonight. That meant that whatever it was that Lex had set up could quite possibly be a bad thing.

Scratch that; with Lex, she KNEW it was a bad thing.

He shook his head, "It's not important. Are you sure you wouldn't rather go back to my place for that coffee?"

"Actually, Lex," she back-tracked; she had to call Clark, his parents, or Lois, as soon as possible, "I'm getting pretty tired. I should be getting home."

"Well, if you're sure…."

"Yeah," she nodded. "It just kind of hit me all of a sudden."

He looked at her concernedly but in a way that made Lana aware that he was assessing how much truth was in her statement about being tired. The truth of the matter was that she WAS tired and she hoped it showed first and foremostly on her face.

Buying it apparently, he nodded back and took her hand, "C'mon then. Let's get you home."

Lana, unable to do anything else, held steadfastly to Lex's hand and prayed that the trip home wasn't going to be terribly long.

* * *

An hour after they had watched Mr. Security stop watching the apartment they were back in the truck and pulling into the field that Clark liked to use for practicing.

Lois rolled down the window, looking out into the night sky, "You hear anything?"

Clark tilted his head to one side and listened, "No. You?"

"I don't know. You're the one with the superpowers."

He reached over and opened the door, "Forget I asked then."

Stepping onto the ground and closing the door behind him, he looked back at her as he walked around the truck, "You coming out or are you just planning on staying there all night?"

Lois looked up from her position draped over the window frame, "I'm coming. You ready?"

He listened one more time, trying to hear if anyone was around. It wasn't that he was being careful, it was more like he was being paranoid. He just wished he knew why. The fact of the matter was that he was wary of this situation even though he knew he shouldn't be; Lana was keeping Lex company tonight and that meant that there wasn't anyone who was going to see them when he began to fly tonight.

At Lois' questioning look, waiting for his answer as she was, he nodded, "Yeah, I think I am."

"Good," she nodded back and sat up, opening the car door and hopping out. She closed the door behind her. "So where were you thinking would be best for this?"

He shrugged, "Behind the cave probably. Away from where Lex caught me the first time."

"Clark," Lois stopped mid step and rolled her eyes, "You said you didn't hear anyone, right?"

"Yeah?"

"So why do we have to go from behind the cave? What difference is it going to make?"

Clark furrowed his brow, his brain coming to the same realization. He shrugged, "I guess it doesn't."

"Good then," she came closer, "So let's do this. You need the practice and I want to fly."

He arched a look in her direction playfully, "Why do I get the feeling that this is more about you wanting to fly and less about me needing the practice?"

"That would be because you're right," she replied unabashedly, taking his arm as they continued walking. "You should take a mental picture of this moment, Smallville. It won't happen again."

He nodded, thinking, "Okay."

And then, in a movement faster than Lois could track, he reached over and lifted her into his arms.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked, "I thought you were waiting until we got to the other side of the cave."

"I lied," he replied, and began to float. "I can't wait either."

"See?" she slapped his shoulder playfully, her heart still racing from their impromptu lift off. "I knew that deep down inside you weren't afraid of heights."

"Yeah, well," he looked around the area and, satisfied that they were really alone, he went higher. "I didn't know before that I wouldn't fall."

"You were never going to fall, Clark," she settled more comfortably into him and let her arms fall loosely around his neck.

"Oh yeah?" he looked at her, an eyebrow raised, "If you had known about my first few failed attempts you wouldn't be saying that."

"I'm sure you were fine."

"No," he murmured into her ear, close so that she could hear him. "I wasn't. I floated in my sleep but that was about it."

"Oh," she sighed, and looked down at the distance his gradual movements had put them at. They were about 50 feet off the ground right now but losing altitude in what she knew was Clark's way of taking care of her despite knowing that she didn't need to be taken care of. She liked heights after all, and she didn't mind speed either.

A blinking light close by cut into her thoughts as it caught her eye, "Clark, what's that?"

"What's what?" He replied, deep in thought as he experimented with controlling how far and fast they were moving in the air.

"That light over there," she pointed. "See?"

He turned them in the air, examining the ground below them, "What light? I don't see any light?"

"It's getting brighter," she turned his head towards it, "How can you miss it?"

"I don't see where…." He blinked into the night sky, turning another 30 degrees before he saw the light she was talking about. "Oh. That's odd."

"I know," she agreed. "And it keeps getting brighter…..ohhhh!"

She cut herself off with her own cry as the light which had been getting bigger suddenly pulsed with a green, targeted laser at them before shutting off again.

Lois, however, wasn't aware that it had been turned off because, with a speed that made seconds feel like nanoseconds, the ground was rushing towards them.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17- Worry**

Lois picked herself up from the ground gingerly a minute later, her movements restricted by the weight of Clark's leg over her own. She shifted slightly and hissed in pain as her ankle protested the movement.

Despite the state of her left foot, she sat up, moving away and noticing for the first time that Clark had managed to make them fall so he was underneath her.

And therefore had taken the brunt of the fall.

Alarmed now, she scrambled off of him, frantically checking his still body for a pulse while liberally ignoring the ankle that was now throbbing in pain in time to the beating of her heart.

"Clark, are you okay?" she said in a shaky voice, sighing in relief as her fingers located a pulse. She swallowed hard, trying to decide whether or not trying to get him up and around at this point would be a good idea. 'Well,' her brain reminded her, 'At least you'd know he was alive.'

The rest of her agreed with that. She nudged him gently.

He didn't move. Frustrated, she upgraded her nudge to a poke.

"Ugh…"

"Oh thank God," a bigger, louder sigh erupted out of her. "I thought you were dead for a second there."

"Dead?" he opened his eyes a crack and looked at her blearily, lifting his head from its position on the ground. "No. But if I had a choice right now..." he lowered his head and closed his eyes, "I just might take it."

She brushed his hair back from his forehead, "Not feeling so hot, eh?"

"A bit like death warmed over actually," he lifted his head off the ground again, testing his own strength. He felt, as he had told Lois, terrible. But he wasn't dead, that much he was thankful for.

Now if he could just gather the strength to get off the ground.

Seemingly reading his thoughts, his neck, exhausted like the rest of his body, protested its upward position and chose that moment to give out on him.

Lois winced as the back of his head hit the ground, "Are you okay?"

He closed his eyes and shook his head, "I think there was kryptonite in whatever it was that hit us."

She paled and looked around, "Are you serious? Is it still around? Do I need to…."

He shook his head again and swallowed as a wave of nausea came over him, "No. It's gone. If it was still around then I wouldn't be conscious right now."

She nodded, her concern for Clark growing again as she looked at him. He was paler than she had ever seen him and, if his inability to hold his own head up was any indication, weaker too, "We should get out of here before whoever made what hit us comes to find if their machine hit its target."

Clark let out a snort, "If you have to ask who made that thing than you're not as smart as I thought you were. Three guesses as to who did it and the first two don't count."

She rolled her eyes at his unexpected sarcasm and scrambled up, ignoring the pain in her ankle and mentally thanking the adrenalin she knew was making it possible to put pressure on it at all.

He groaned as she pulled him up, "Lois, just leave me. Go get help."

"Clark," she grunted, stooping down and getting under his arm, "I'm not leaving you here for Lex to find. Now stand up and help me."

Clark struggled with himself, wanting to help her because he knew without it he was very likely going to be too heavy for her. He made it all the way to his feet before his vision began to blacken around the edges…..

Lois slapped him hard across the face, "You can pass out when we get to the car, Smallville. I need you conscious for this."

He tried to nod but found that even that was going to be too much. Instead, he simply mumbled his thanks and leaned against her, working hard not to get another of Lois' slaps.

* * *

As luck would have it, he had lasted until they had reached the truck before letting unconsciousness claim him-much to Lois' satisfaction.

She really hadn't been looking forward to having to lift him into the truck.

She had still had to, kind of. He had made it to the truck, true, but he hadn't exactly made it into his seat so now, on top of her ankle (which had continued to ache throughout the car ride), she had sore arms from pushing Clark's body the final foot into the vehicle.

She made a mental note to chastise Clark for it later but, at least for the moment, she had to figure out a way to get him from the truck (where they were now sitting) to the farmhouse which, now that she had made it to the farm, was a mere thirty feet away from where she had parked.

"Lois?"

She looked towards the farmhouse and turned the ignition off, sighing in relief as she did so, "Martha, is Mr. Kent home? I think we need his help."

Martha raised an eyebrow questioningly and began to walk towards the truck, "What happened, Lois?"

She looked over at Clark and then back at his mother, who was only now getting to a visual point to see who was sitting in the passenger seat right now.

The older woman let out a cry of shock as she finally saw what Lois was talking about. She rushed over, going around and opening the passenger side, "What happened to him?"

Lois undid her seat belt and shrugged, "Some kind of bright light laser-thing knocked us both out of the sky. He took most of the fall though."

Martha looked up at her worriedly, "How far up were you?"

"I don't know. Forty feet? It might have been more."

"Martha?"

Both women looked up as Jonathan Kent walked down the porch steps towards them.

"Jonathan, thank goodness you're here. Come and help me with Clark," Martha called to her husband, looking as relieved as Lois felt as she reached over and undid her son's seatbelt. Clark let out a small groan as she moved him in his seat...

"Here, let me help too," Lois murmured, ignoring Martha's immediate sounds of protest. Jonathan looked like he had a good grasp on his son but the fact remained that he was unconscious and heavy and therefore this might not be a job best suited for two people. "No, Martha, I insist."

She moved to step out of the car, careful to keep her weight on her right foot. She lifted her left foot down to step with it, gingerly, testing its strength, "I can't just let you two move him without any help. He's heavy and….."

Martha looked up, startled as Lois cut herself off with her own sharp gasp, "Lois, sweetie, are you okay?"

Lois bit her lip to keep from swearing as her eyes began to water, "Uh-huh. I just, um, kind of fell on my ankle when we fell. I'm sure it's just a sprain though. You're right about Clark though; I'm sure you can move him without my help."

Martha exchanged a quick glance with her husband-who nodded as he got the message and began to drag the semi-lucid Clark to the house. Thankfully for both of them, he appeared to be awake enough now to at least move his feet for himself while his father let him lean liberally on him.

She watched as Lois took another step and stopped, her hand on the car door the only thing holding her up at the moment.

"Lois, are you sure it isn't broken?"

The younger woman shook her head adamantly, "No. I was able to help Clark to the truck earlier. Would I have been able to do that if it were broken?"

Martha shut the door and came around the truck. She looked at her, opening her mouth to reply.

Lois cut her off, knowing what she was going to say because she knew it would be an echo of what she had immediately thought. They had spent too much time together in the last few months for that not to be a possibility… "Don't answer that. I know. Adrenalin can do wonderful things."

"Yes, it can," she sighed, getting close enough to her son's best friend so that she could lean on her. "Now close the door and let's go inside. I need to check on my son and then either Jonathan or I are taking you to the hospital. Believe it or not, I think you're hurt."

Lois, secretly grateful, did as she was told, leaning heavily on Martha's shoulder as they walked towards the farm.

* * *

Martha opened the door to the farmhouse and let she and Lois in, purposefully keeping her movements slow in order to steady her mind about what had happened tonight. Her son was alive, thank goodness, but who knew what had been the cause of what had happened to him?

Or who? Truth be told, she was more afraid of what was in the future for him if someone knew enough to, by the story Lois had told, lace a beam of light with kryptonite and than aim it for the next flying object that came into its path.

She turned them into the living room and sighed as she saw her son, "How is he?"

Jonathan looked up from his position next to Clark and shook his head, "Out like a light. He came to for about a minute-enough time for me to get him settled on the couch and then he was out cold again."

"Is he alright do you think?"

"I think so," Jonathan stood up from his chair and looked at his wife as she settled Lois in an armchair, "It was like he was falling asleep after and he's not running a fever. He seemed tired mostly. And weak…really weak."

"He thought there was meteor rock in the light," Lois added, wincing as she leaned down and adjusted her pant leg until it reached her knee. She gingerly lifted her foot up until it rested on the footstool sitting in front of the chair, "He was strong enough to reach the truck but then he passed out again."

"If there was kryptonite in the light, that would explain the weakness," Jonathan nodded, "And the unconsciousness. He should be fine though, now that he's away from it."

He tilted his head to one side as he watched Lois roll down her sock and loosen her shoe, "I'm not sure if I can say the same about you though."

"Hmm?" she grimaced, air hissing through her teeth as she moved the sock down, letting out a yelp as it moved the wrong way. "Shit."

"That doesn't look like a sprain, Sweetie," Martha stooped down next to her. "Now that we've got Clark settled, it's time to take care of you. That's going to need to be set sooner rather than later so we better get to the hospital."

Lois looked up in alarm, "What? We can't leave him alone."

"I'll stay with him," Jonathan piped up quietly.

"But…."

"He's sleeping now and there's no kryptonite around. He'll be fine," Martha stood up.

"But what if he…."

Martha looked her in the eye, "Lois, I'm his mother and I've seen him exposed to this kind of thing before. Once he's exposed to it and it's gone, he just needs to sleep it off. But if he wakes up and discovers that you haven't gotten this taken care of…." She purposefully let her hand fall on her ankle, still sitting up on the footstool in front of her.

Lois visibly flinched, her lips pressed together as she tried to stop herself from making a sound.

Clark's mother simply shot her a look.

"Fine, fine!" Lois lifted her arms up helplessly. "Take me to the hospital. I still think it can wait until the morning but…"

"But nothing," Martha replied, reaching down and helping her out of her chair. "You very likely saved our son's life tonight. The least we can do is get someone to check out that ankle."

"Right," the younger woman grumbled. She turned her attention back to Clark momentarily, "But you better be awake when I get back, Smallville. You freaked me out tonight and I need to yell at you for making me worry."

Clark, as if on cue, began to snore.

Jonathan let out a snort of laughter, "Have a good time, girls. We'll see you when you get back."

And with that, Martha lead Lois out of the house again, only stopping to flash her cell phone at her husband to remind him to call her if someone happened with Clark.


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18: Living Arrangements**

_ "Clark, what's that?"_

_He looked down at the ground and concentrated on making them move up at a rate that wouldn't cause Lois to scream, "What's what?"_

_"That light over there," she drew him out of his thoughts as she pointed it out to him, "See?"_

_He turned them so he could see what she was talking about, "What light? I don't see any light."_

_"It's getting brighter," she murmured, using her free hand to move his head in the right direction. "How can you miss it?"_

_"I don't see where…." He blinked into the night sky, turning another 30 degrees before he saw the light she was talking about. "Oh. That's odd."_

_He tightened his grip on her as an unexpected weakness came over him. The light got brighter…._

_"I know," she agreed. _

_Clark__ had to struggle to keep them afloat as the light got impossibly bright. Beads of sweat began to form on his forehead._

_Lois, not noticing her companion's situation, continued to examine the light._

_Clark__ began to see spots. He knew this feeling but it was impossible. No light that he knew of contained kryptonite. He tightened his grasp on Lois, feeling himself start to go numb. At the last moment, he turned his body so he would talk the brunt of the fall as he felt himself losing the battle with it, the spots turning into darkness and unconsciousness imminent._

_He barely heard her continuing words become a scream as they plummeted towards the ground…._

Clark came awake with a gasp as the dream ended, sitting up abruptly as his dream-self hit the ground-taking Lois with him. He took another shuddering breath and ran a hand through his hair. His dream couldn't have happened because if it had then that would mean that he and Lois had fallen from the sky…

…and he hadn't been able to stop their fall. He furrowed his brow, trying to remember how high up they had been when the light had hit them. Or even how he had gotten home. He vaguely remembered the truck and Lois and then his parents but the rest of it was a blur.

With a sigh, he resigned himself to not knowing until he could find someone who could tell him what had happened, and, in frustration at this reality, laid back down against the pillows.

A low groan that echoed his frustration greeted him from the right side of the bed, "Would you stop moving?"

His eyes widened and his head turned to the sound.

Lois Lane cracked one eye open and glared at him, "I mean it, Smallville. After the night we had, I need my rest."

"Lois," he stammered out, highly confused by her presence not only in his room, but in his bed. "What are you….?"

"Doing here?" she finished for him, her eye closing. "Trying to sleep and your Mom insisted that I take the bed last night after we got back from the hospital. You were already in it though so we had to improvise."

Clark opened his mouth to respond but she brushed his unsaid words off with a lift of the duvet covering them both, "Note how I'm on top of the bed sheet and you're under it. Don't worry. Lana would approve."

He let the cover drift down again before answering, "That's not really my first concern but thanks for mentioning it."

"No prob," she let out a yawn and rolled onto her side facing him.

He waited a moment and then….. "Lois, what happened last night? And why were you and Mom at the hospital?"

"You mean you don't remember?" she opened both eyes sleepily now, "Not even the fall?"

"Then we did fall? It wasn't just a dream?"

She snorted, unable to stop herself, "Yeah, we fell. You put yourself under me so I wouldn't take the hit though. Thanks for that, by the way."

He furrowed his brow, trying to remember all the details and failing miserably.

Lois interrupted him with a soft sigh, "You woke up briefly after and I got you to the truck. You passed out at that point and didn't wake up until we got to the farm where your father took you inside. According to your Dad, you woke up again later but we weren't there to see it."

"I don't remember that," he tried to clear his mind, searching for the memory.

"That would probably be the kryptonite talking," she yawned, rolling onto her back, "But I wouldn't feel bad about it; you didn't miss much."

Clark sighed, mulling her words over in his head as he tried to pinpoint the last moment he remembered, his eyes widening in shock and guilt as he grabbed hold of another memory of the evening-and probably the reason why his mother had needed to go to the hospital with Lois. Needing to make sure, he looked over at Lois-who had closed her eyes again- and surreptitiously scanned her body with his x-ray vision, fear that what he thought had happened had actually happened.

"You can stop that; I can feel you doing it."

He looked up at her face accusingly, "Lois, you broke your ankle."

"Yeah," she drawled, "I remember."

"For me."

She let out a disgusted sigh, "No, not for you. In fact, if it wasn't for you, I would have broken more bones from the fall. It was whoever set up that laser thing so you can put away the guilt right now before you start to piss me off."

"But…."

"No buts," she interrupted, opening her eyes and meeting his gaze. "It wasn't your fault. I'm just happy you're okay."

Clark, not knowing how to respond to that without expressing his continuing guilt that she had gotten hurt because of him, went silent instead.

She sat up and pushed back the comforter, knowing that there was no way she was going to be able to go back to sleep now, "And speaking of you being okay," she gently moved her legs to the side of the bed, "You should probably go downstairs and let your parents know; they were worried too."

Watching her progress, he hurriedly got up, "Lois, let me help you with that."

She turned around long enough to glare at him before picking up the crutches the doctor had given her from the floor next to the bed, "I'm good, thanks. You just get downstairs."

"But…."

"If you keep arguing with me you really ARE going to piss me off," she replied flatly.

He sighed, resigned, "Fine. Will you be alright on the stairs?"

"Clark…." She bit off.

"Alright," he threw up his hands. "You win. I'll see you downstairs. Call me if you need anything."

"I won't need the help, but thank you. Now go!"

Clark nodded and, with one last look in her direction, left the room.

* * *

Lois let out a shuddering breath after he left the room, her head falling onto her free hand as the other clutched the crutches she had just retrieved. She had been too sleepy to show him how much he had scared her earlier but now that he had left the room whole and healthy, her fear had snuck up on her again.

She had been worried about him the whole time she and Mrs. Kent had been at the hospital, the fear only lessening (albeit to a small degree) when they had returned to the farm to discover that Clark had gotten up again and Mr. Kent had put him up to bed. It hadn't been enough to dissuade her mind, however, that he was okay.

This morning he had surprised her and, as far as he knew, it looked like last night hadn't affected her. She was sure that she had behaved as she normally would have around him (although there was the distinct possibility that she had played it a bit angrier than usual). Had he looked closer though, he would have seen that beneath the surface she was freaking out. His guilt over her accident had been the final straw.

She breathed deeply through her nose and tried to calm herself. His parents knew how she had felt about their accident but there was no reason that Clark, recovering as he was, had to know anything. With this in mind, she stood up and moved the crutches until they were in the correct position under her arms; she was hungry and she wasn't going to let her own mind prevent her from getting something to eat.

But under no circumstances was she going to let Clark help her down those stairs.

* * *

Martha Kent had to stifle a smirk as she watched her son carry Lois into the kitchen, only letting her down when they were at the table.

"Smallville, I told you I didn't need the help," Lois sat down, moving her crutches in her hand and looking around for a place to put them.

"Give me those," Clark took them from her instead, setting them against the wall.

She pursed her lips, "Are you done yet? Planning on filling my plate for me and cutting up my bacon and eggs so I don't choke?"

"Lois…."

"I could have made it down those stairs."

"How?"

"Well, I…" she thought hard, perking up when an idea popped into her head, "Could have sat down on the stairs and…"

"….Scooted down?" he finished for her.

A moments silence came and went as she glared at him and smirked back.

Lois let out a disgusted breath, breaking the look as Martha put a plate down in front of her, "I hate you."

He sat down next to her, picking up and his fork and digging into his own plate, "No you don't. You just think you do because you had to, for once, accept a little help. And I can't say that last night didn't put me in a position where I didn't need help too."

She looked at him quizzically.

Clark shrugged, "Ever since I got up I've been remembering bits and pieces of things that happened and, on my way down the stairs, I remembered how you got me into the truck before Lex came back to find us."

Lois swallowed the mouthful of eggs she had just put into her mouth nervously. She hadn't exactly been gentle if she recalled correctly.

"And, even though it's already been said, I wanted to say thanks."

She took a sip of juice and peered at him cautiously from over the rim of the glass, "It's nothing you wouldn't have done for me."

"I know, but still…." He looked down at his plate, spearing a hunk of scrambled eggs, "I probably would be in some lab somewhere if you hadn't done something. I mean, I have no proof that it was Lex that set up that thing in the field but if it was, I'm sure he had someone watching who could have done something if you hadn't of been there."

"It was Lex," Martha cut in brusquely, coming up behind him and reaching for his glass. She filled it with orange juice, "When Lois and I were at the hospital, your father checked the messages on the answering machine and Lana had left a message about it, warning you."

She leaned down to kiss her son on the cheek, "I'm just glad you're okay. We weren't even sure what was wrong with you at first when Lois brought you home."

"Mom, I'm fine," he murmured, reaching for his juice and taking a deep gulp. "Really."

"Clark, you looked like death warmed over when your father helped you through the door over there and Lois didn't look much better. You weren't fine."

"Well, I'm fine now," he looked up at her hopefully and dug back in to his breakfast, "My powers aren't back completely but…"

"Whoa, what?" Lois cut in, surprised. "You're powers aren't back?"

"Some of them are," he replied defensively.

"Some of them," she repeated. "Which ones?"

He continued to eat, talking between bites, "The x-ray vision for starters. My hearing is still pretty sharp and the heat vision is intact too."

"But the superspeed and the flying?"

Clark winced, "Might be a little bit longer on that, I think. The super-strength hasn't come back either."

Lois let out a ragged sigh and ran a hand through her hair, "Did Lana mention how long the effects would last in this message of hers?"

"Er, well, it's not really that predictable. Could be hours, could be days…" Clark and his mother exchanged glances as Lois' face grew despondent. "But it's okay. These little adventures into being normal makes me appreciate my powers later, right?"

She shot him an incredulous look over a piece of bacon on her fork.

He looked down at the table in response, "Okay. That was pushing it a bit."

She chewed on her bacon thoughtfully, "You think?"

"Yeah," he pushed his plate aside, suddenly not hungry as he thought about his lost powers. His might be putting on a brave face for everyone else but inside he was terrified that the powers he was currently missing were never going to come back.

"They'll come back," Lois murmured, seemingly reading his thoughts as she put a hand over his.

He turned the hand over and gave hers a gentle squeeze, "How do you do that?"

She looked at him quizzically, "How do I do what?"

"Read my mind," he looked her in the eye and smiled.

"Like it's hard. You had 'worried' written all over your face, Clark," she smiled back, sobering after a moment. "It shouldn't be surprising to you though. We spend enough time together and now with the whole 'pretending to date' thing….."

"…It's not surprising that we're finishing each other's sentences," he finished.

"Exactly," she replied softly.

"Lois, have you thought about what you're going to do about your apartment?" Martha filled the silence that followed their two-sided revelation.

"What do you mean?" she looked over at Clark's mother.

"I mean the stairs. Have you thought about how you're going to make it up and down those stairs?"

Lois' eyes widened, remembering what had happened earlier. Quickly (aware that both Martha and Clark would try to convince her to move in with them if she said anything about it), she toned her expression down and shrugged, "Um, no. Not really. I should be fine though."

"Lois…."

She held up her index finger, "No. I can do this. I will be fine."

"With all those stairs?" Clark crossed his arms and looked at her in amusement.

She met his eyes and let out a groan, knowing what was coming-and, with Mrs. Kent in the room, very likely from two fronts, "Ugh, don't even start. I'm not imposing myself on any of you when you're still healing."

"Healing?" he raised an eyebrow, "It's an internal process, nothing on the surface. Not like what happened to you."

She pursed her lips, seriously considering his offer. On one hand, she could move in here for the next few weeks while she healed. Enjoy Mrs. Kent's home cooking, spend some quality time on the couch catching up on all the reading she had been meaning to do for the past year but hadn't found the time for. On the other hand, if she knew her Kent's correctly, she would be putting Clark out of his room for weeks on end and though she knew she had happily done it before, he hadn't been recovering his powers at the time.

Although her staying here would certainly get the town buzzing enough to turn Lex's attention away from Clark's extracurricular activities with Lana on a more permanent basis….and that would mean that they could spend more time together…

She shook her head after a moment, a sudden wave of an emotion she was too afraid to identify moving her to make a decision and lose her appetite all at the same time. She pushed her plate away, "No. I can't."

Clark rolled his eyes. Clearly the fall hadn't broken her stubbornness, "C'mon Lois. You know you want to. Mom's cooking alone should make this an attractive deal. You stay here for awhile, heal…."

"And what will Lana think?" she cut in.

"She'll think whatever she wants to think," Martha put the dish towel she had been using to clean the counter with down and came over to the table. "And we owe you for what you did for Clark out there. Besides all that," she sat down now. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss having another woman around the house."

Lois looked at Martha, noting how the older woman knew all of her weak spots and she was finding-and using-them with a smile on her face. She sighed, "Are you sure?"

Martha laid a hand over hers and smiled reassuringly, "Very. Now how about it?"

Seeing her hesitation, Clark jumped in with some last words, "It's either stay here or I have to spend more time at your place."

"If you're sure," she breathed out softly, "Then okay. Thank you."

"Excellent!" Martha leaned forward an enveloped Lois in a hug, "Thank you for saying yes. I would have worried about you the whole time. Clark would have practically been living with you."

"She's not kidding," Clark stood up from the table, picking up their empty plates.

Lois, in an uncharacteristically childish move, stuck her tongue out at him.

He responded in kind.

"So you'll need your things," Martha let Lois go and stood up. "Clark can take you over when you're ready. And we'll have to figure out sleeping arrangements. Did you want the fold out bed down here or Clark's room? Oh, we'll figure it out later. Do you think that you…."

Lois, still looking at Clark (now incredulously as his mother turned into a human tornado right in front of their eyes), tuned her out at this point.

In the end, she thought, it was probably safer.


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19: Blunders**

**One Week Later **

Lois was sitting on the couch watching television when Clark came home from his date with his girlfriend. This one (unlike most of the others) had been spur of the moment, Clark having been ambushed earlier that evening when Lana had shown up at the farm.

Lex, fortunately for them, had been out of town for a business trip and his security team had been re-assigned to Metropolis due to a break-in earlier that week. Not that it would have mattered; Clark's powers were only just returning from there experience out in the field and he hadn't yet been able to harness the flying, the super speed or the heat vision.

Lex, therefore, wouldn't really have had anything to look for should he still be looking at this point.

Regardless, when Lana had shown up looking for a walk and a chat, Clark had been hesitant and it had only been through Lois' urgings that he had finally given in. The last thing she had seen before they had left had been Lana's grateful mouthed 'thank you' over her shoulder before they had begun the walk back through the fields.

And so Lois, who had had plans to watch a movie and eat popcorn with Clark, had been left by herself as Mr. and Mrs. Kent had been away in Topeka. She leaned back and made herself comfortable, trying hard not to look like she was listening to him make the short trek into the house, sighing the whole way.

She let out a genuine yelp of surprise though (complete with a jump) when the door slammed and, predictably, Clark's face bent around the corner and frowned apologetically.

"Jeez Clark. You scared me!" she held a hand to her chest.

He grimaced and came around the corner, hands in his pocket. He flopped down on the couch next to her, "Sorry."

She winced at the pained expression on his face, "Ooh. I take it things didn't go well then?"

"You could say that," he ran a hand through his hair, making it messier if that were possible. She raised an eyebrow. THAT was telling. Someone had been running their hands through it but she was willing to bet that it hadn't been Clark.

She bit her lip to hide the sly smile that had suddenly climbed onto her face and reached over for the remote control, shutting the television off before looking at him expectantly.

She was getting any but there was no reason she couldn't live vicariously through Clark.

He blinked when she didn't immediately begin interrogating him, "You're not going to ask me what happened?"

"Nope," she replied, popping the 'p', "Thought I'd let you tell me actually."

"But what if I don't want to?"

She gave him an indulgent look, "You want to. I can tell."

"I do? You sure about that?"

"You do," she nodded.

He thought about denying that she was right but….he DID want to tell her. Lois was more of a realist than Chloe had ever been and her advice, though blunt, was sound. The fact of the matter was that he really needed someone to talk to about this even if it meant that he had to keep some aspects of it to himself.

He heaved a deep sigh and put up a wall around his emotions concerning Lois in favor of concentrating on Lana, "Yeah, I do."

"So?" she shifted on the couch to face him, careful not to jar her right leg where the cast was.

"So," he replied in the same tone, "Lana and I, we kind of…..I mean…."

An amused grin replaced the smile on her face, "Let me guess. She finally talked you into it?"

"No," he shook his head, a blush beginning to color his face gently. This was not a subject he was incredibly comfortable talking about ESPECIALLY considering that every time he went to follow through with Lana he couldn't help but think about the woman currently sitting on the couch with him, "Sort of but….no."

Lois leaned forward, "Fooled around then?"

Clark's blush deepened, "No. She wanted to but…it wasn't like that. We just kissed a bit."

"Still?" she crossed her arms and looked at him incredulously, "So what went wrong this time?"

He pursed his lips and tried to think of the right way to describe what had happened out in the field, "It just wasn't happening, Lois."

Lois, confused, furrowed her brow and looked at him searchingly, "Okay. What's really wrong, Smallville, and try to be as candid as you possibly could be because you're not making any sense here. You're a man. Men want to do this all the time, don't they? Any excuse for it was my understanding."

He let out a snort, "We're not all like that."

She snorted, "Yeah but most of you are. This is twice now that you've told me you couldn't go through with it even when she wanted to so what's up? It's not physical, or at least it wasn't the last time…"

"No," he shook his head adamantly, "It's not."

"Well then what is the issue? Do YOU even know?"

He didn't answer.

Silence fell over them for a moment as Lois kept looking at him expectantly and he pointedly avoided her gaze. She cleared her throat and moved to stand.

"What are you doing?" he finally made eye contact.

"Getting supplies for this," she grabbed her crutches, "If you were a woman I'd feed you chocolate to get you to open up but since you're not we're going to have to try something else."

Knowing where this was going, he shook his head, "You're not getting me drunk, Lois. You can't anyway."

"You need to talk. Badly. And apparently, you can't talk about this. So we need to loosen you up a bit," she held up a finger, "One drink, Smallville. One's not going to hurt you, is it? Even if you could get drunk."

He hesitated. She was right about that.

Lois leaned forward and looked him in the eye, "Just one."

He looked back and shook his head.

"Please?"

He sighed and, knowing she was right about one thing-he wouldn't feel it- relented, "One."

One had turned into five and he was starting to feel a little bit fuzzy. His limbs were heavier too, come to think of it….

To distract himself from it, he drank the shot that Lois handed him, wincing as the tequila burned down his throat. He grabbed a lime to distract his tongue from the strong taste.

"You sure you don't want salt with that?" Lois leaned back against the cushions she had spread out on the floor, a lime hovering above her lips as well.

He caught her amused gaze and returned it, "I'm good, thanks."

"It makes it taste better," she sing- songed back at him, her good mood influenced not only from the fact that she had gotten alcohol into him (voluntarily even) but also because he was now on his sixth shot of the night.

And from the looks of him the kryptonite had disabled that ability he had to process alcohol quickly.

He reached for the bottle and re-filled her shot glass. She waggled her eyebrows at him, scowling when he went to put the bottle down. A moment later, succumbing to her expression, he filled his own glass too. "Did it ever occur to you….." he interrupted himself and took the shot, "That I might not like salt in my tequila?"

She snorted, watching as he took a lime and sucked it. She licked her hand and sprinkled salt on the wet spot, "You haven't tried it so how would you know?"

He raised an eyebrow as she moved her hand toward him expectantly, "Lois, I'm not licking your hand."

She licked it instead, following it up with the tequila he had poured her and then another lime, "Well then lick your own. It's delicious, I promise."

"I'll take your word for it."

Lois set down her shot glass and stared at Clark, now lying down on the pillows they had taken off the couch. She licked a drop of lime juice off the corner of her mouth thoughtfully, "So….how many more of these are we going to need before I get some answers out of you?"

He turned his head, "Excuse me?"

She turned over onto her stomach, pulling the pillow under her and propping herself up with it, "Are you feeling anything yet?"

Clark, who DID actually feel a little strange right now, tilted his head to one side, "I don't know. What am I supposed to be feeling?"

She rolled her eyes, "Warm, maybe a little lightheaded. It depends on how much of a light weight you are at this."

He thought about it, "I DO feel a little lightheaded."

"Good," she reached over for the bottle and abruptly sat up, "Let's both have one more and then we'll get down to business, shall we?"

"Business?" he took the shot she held out to him and drank it.

"Yes, Clark. Just pretend I'm a psychiatrist or something. Or, you know, your Mom. That works too," she drank hers too now, and lay back down.

"Ugh, not my Mom. That's too…creepy," he shook his head.

Lois couldn't contain her laughter, "And why's that?"

"You don't tell your mother about your love life," he met her eyes, furrowing his brow as soon as the words were out of his mouth, "Or lack thereof."

"And whose fault would that be? If I recall, it's been Lana trying to get into those tighty-whities of yours and not the other way around."

"Drink your alcohol, Lois," he growled.

"Alright, alright," she did as she was told, foregoing the afore mentioned salt in favor of another lime. "But seriously," she murmured around a mouthful of fruit juice. "Why hasn't Lana been successful? You're a guy after all…."

"And we've already had this discussion," he replied, moving on the pillows and marveling as the warm fuzziness he had been feeling since about the third shot she had talked him into started the spread. "I'm not most guys."

"Oh come on, Clark," she snorted. "You're not most guys but you're not a saint. A.C. was a fairly decent guy and HE….."

"AC was NOT a decent guy," he cut in.

She raised an eyebrow, "Am I sensing some overly protective big brother vibes from your side of the carpet?"

"No," he said, defensively, "I just think that that's not a good example."

"Then what IS a good example? Do you know how many guys would kill for a girlfriend who makes the first move? Most women her age don't do that."

"She's a year younger than you."

"Yeah, but I approach this subject like a guy. You, on the other hand, are the girl."

He sat up, looking at her pointedly, "I'm not the girl. I'm just being cautious."

She snorted, "You're the girl."

"I'm not."

"You are," she nodded at him.

When he went silent, she continued, "Clark, she wants to have sex with you. Badly. Why aren't you doing it? You've been dating for a long time and you've done it before…."

"Lois, you wouldn't understand," he replied quietly, miserably.

"Try me."

He took a breath and for a moment she thought he wasn't going to answer but then…. "It's just not the same anymore."

"Why?" she murmured. NOW they were getting somewhere.

"I don't know," he sighed, "It just is. When I'm with her….it's like she's trying to prove something but I don't know to who."

"How so?"

"Well," he shifted uncomfortably and moved until he was on his side, propped up and looking at her, "She's aggressive."

Lois tried to keep a straight face…and failed.

"Lois!"

"I'm sorry," she tried to get herself under control, "And how is that a problem?"

"She wasn't like this before!" he protested. "And I don't know if it's because she knows about my powers or because she's trying to make up for the fact that you and I are always together or that…."

"Could it be," she cut in, "That she just wants you?"

He blushed deeply, "Well, there's that too."

"You know," she leaned forward as if she had a secret, "That could be the reason and if that's the case and you're not acting on it, I think we need to have another discussion."

"About what?" he leaned forward too.

"About what's preventing you from acting on it."

He froze. This was a conversation he was hoping he wouldn't have to have with her.

"I think we found what your issue is," she smiled.

"And I think," he sat up, knowing that this would lead to no good, "That we need to leave this issue alone."

"Oh no. Not when we finally pinpointed the reason."

"Look," he flopped back down, the alcohol in his system making him less graceful than he normally was (although that would be something only the woman in town would ever notice), "This is not important and it'll happen when it happens. I'm in no rush."

She blinked, confused, "So you don't want to have sex with her?"

"Did I say that? I didn't say that."

"You had a good time with her the last time, didn't you?"

He blushed again and nodded.

"But you're in no rush and she's put the moves on you twice. You both, apparently, had a good time the last time you did it so she's going to start to wonder if you keep saying no," she argued.

"Well she's just going to have to deal with that."

"But for how long? There's a line, Clark and you're really near it."

"Lois," he ran a hand through his hair in frustration, "I…." he cut himself off and sighed. "I don't really trust her like I used to and…."

She rolled her eyes and reached for the alcohol, "That's an excuse, not a reason. Am I going to have to give you another of these to get you over that?"

"I don't….no," he shook his head, but drank the shot she handed him anyway. "I just wish it was like the last time. It was easier then when she…."

"Had no clue who you really were? What you can do?" she sighed, "We've been through this before, Clark, and it never ends well. The fact of the matter is that she wants you, and you're turning her down every time. She's going to start to wonder if there's something you're not telling her and you know how she feels about the secret keeping."

He nodded, agreeing, before falling silent.

A sudden thought occurred to Lois and she bit her lip, "Clark, there's no secrets you're keeping from her, right? Is that why you're having troubles trusting her?"

"How would my secrets affect my level of trust in her?" he looked her in the eye, "That makes no sense."

"Or maybe it makes perfect sense."

They looked at each other, stubbornly refusing to look away as Lois' words sank in, goading Clark yet also forcing him to realize that he was precariously close to showing her all his cards.

And that would ruin everything.

He was the first to look away, "Yeah, well, it's not true. I'm not keeping anything from her."

"So you're just making out with her 'just because'?" she snorted, "I don't buy that."

He sat up again, "You don't understand."

"But I want to," she raised her chin defiantly. She sighed, "Clark, if you don't want to tell me, so be it but don't tell me I don't understand. I'm your best friend. I want to."

"There's nothing to understand."

"Sure there is!" she threw an arm up in the air, "You're a guy in the prime of his life…"

He opened his mouth to argue.

"….and don't say a word because I read the report on male and female sexuality that said when 'prime' is and you're in it, mister…"

He blushed again.

"….and you DON'T want to have sex with Lana, your girlfriend, I might add, who wants to have sex with you?"

He didn't answer, frustrated and trying to come up with a decent response she imagined, so she continued.

"I don't buy that for a second! I've seen the way you looked at her last year and I can't understand how you could just lose interest like that. Physically, you have to be having responses, right?"

He nodded awkwardly but refrained from saying more on the topic. Anger began to pulse at the back of his brain and his mouth nearly did him in when the words he had been trying to bite back fell on the tip.

Lois, fortunately, didn't realize anything was out of the ordinary, "So why aren't you dealing with it?"

"Lois, I'm not talking about this."

"And that's your problem. Both of your problem actually. You don't talk. You just brood, and pout, and think but nothing gets done. When are you going to be a couple of action rather than thought? I just…. I don't understand how you could be so….."

Finally, he snapped, his tongue betraying his brain, "Because I don't want to have sex with her anymore! We only get close enough for her to initiate it when I'm thinking about you!"

Lois' jaw froze mid word, speechless.

That, she hadn't been expecting.

A squeak escaped her and she tried to clear her throat, "You…really?"

"Yes," he hissed, the hand running back through his hair, "And I would really appreciate it if you just forgot I said anything because I think this is what tipsy feels like and I'm not myse…"

And then Lois was kissing him, making him believe that alcohol, though stupidity inducing, was possibly the best invention ever because it meant that he finally got to feel her lips on his for real, and not just in a fantasy like setting they set up for the people of Smallville to gawk in disgust over.

It was different, richer and, had he been thinking straight, he would have made the connection that it had never been this good with Lana.

Lois pushed him back down into the carpet, her lips opening his and the kiss deepening as her tongue edged into his mouth.

Clark groaned and opened wider, returning the favor and letting her push him all the way back to the carpet.

The kiss grew exponentially as she lay out on top of him, friction making her hungry in ways she hadn't been letting herself be. His lips had always been good but tonight there were magical. Tonight, she wanted to eat them alive. Tonight…..

….they were drunk.

She froze on top of him and drew a shuddering breath.

"Lois?"

She pressed her tingling lips together and closed her eyes, "I'm sorry."

And with not another word spoken, she got up off of him and left the room.


	21. Chapter 20

**A/N Alright folks. This one is a bit racier than normal (and when I say a bit I mean a lot). Enjoy and don't forget to review!**

**Chapter 20-Laid**

She was kissing him. But this time, she wasn't running away.

Clark sat up, his eyes blinking away the sleep he had just been pulled out of (or at least he thought he had been dreaming….since she was kissing him there was still the distinct possibility that he was STILL dreaming), "Lois?"

She smiled down at him and bit the corner of her lip, "Yeah?"

"What are you doing?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago," she leaned forward and kissed the base of his jaw, "Didn't you tell me you had thought about this?"

Clark blushed hotly, "Yes, but….."

"Sshh," she shushed him quietly, her lips moving upwards, "Just enjoy it."

She bit his lip now, her torso edging his and her hands pushing him back to the couch.

In the back of his mind a little voice was urging him to back away, that no good could come of this. Well, no lasting good anyway. And besides all that, they were both still drunk and he knew for certain that no good had ever come out of something done while intoxicated but really…..

He blinked as Lois leaned back on his lap and took off her shirt. His eyes widened as he realized that, dressed for bed as she was, she wasn't wearing a bra.

If this was 'no good' he never wanted to encounter 'good' again.

He felt her hands begin to undo the buttons of his own shirt as she came back down to him, taking his mouth aggressively. He returned the favor, flipping them over until he was on top of her on the couch. Her hands finally freed his shirt and pulled the tails out of his pants.

Feeling like he wasn't doing enough to repay her for the wonderful things he was currently being made to feel, he trailed a hand down her side and settled a thumb over her nipple, stroking lightly.

Lois let a small moan escape into his mouth as she arched into the hand, encouraging him to continue, "Make love to me, Clark."

* * *

'Whatever Clark was dreaming about, it had to be good,' Lois mused as she sat in the corner of the living room watching as Clark floated off the couch, face down. She shifted in the chair, crossing her legs one over the other and resting her arm under her chin. The tea she had made earlier was getting cold but, despite the fact that she had made a special trip downstairs to make it, she suddenly found that she didn't want it. It had meant to be a balm for the confusion she was feeling over what had happened earlier but, somewhere between the kitchen and the stairs, she had found herself sitting down to watch Clark sleep.

He sighed, smiling in his unconscious state and she had to smile too because she loved it when he did that.

'Okay,' she blinked, the smile dropping from her face as her mind ran through where it had just been one more time. 'Even Clark, the eternal romantic, would find that sappy.'

Moreover, it was disconcerting. This was not how things were supposed to be between the two of them. She was not supposed to be happy when he smiled because it didn't matter when he smiled. What mattered was that he was happy but not influencing her moods. And it really didn't matter that watching him with his powers (and clearly having a great dream) was making her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Nor did it matter how great he looked without a shirt and asleep on the couch (or over it as the case would be).

Her thoughts betraying her one more time, she groaned, forcing her mind to finally ground itself in reality. Apparently, drunk or not, she had the hots for her pretend boyfriend and it wasn't going away which was, needless to say, a problem.

Just when had things gotten so complicated?

The moment she kissed him for the first time she knew there had been a problem. Well, not a problem per se but definitely an issue. Platonic kisses weren't as hot as that first one had been, or at least they shouldn't be.

At the time she had kissed him out of desperation, knowing perceptively that Lex would sense something was not exactly normal unless presented with a situation that, while not expected, certainly wouldn't be unexpected. After all, men had been cheating on their perfectly perfect girlfriends with women like her for centuries and Clark, though seemingly incorruptible, wouldn't be the first to succumb to that kind of need. Add in the fact that Lana hadn't been the only one to initially think that something was going on between Clark and Lois when she had come into town and it was surprising that they had 'gone as long as they had' without having sex with each other.

And speaking of Clark's girlfriend….

Lois ran a hand through her hair in frustration as Lana, the women she had been trying not to think about since she had attempted to go to bed earlier, popped into her mind and stared daggers at her. This time, Clark had REALLY cheated on her.

Okay, REALLY was perhaps not the right word. Lois had kissed him and not the other way around but the fact remained that he had returned her kiss and she was pretty sure he had been willing to let it go farther. She certainly had been. Still was, come to think of it. Of course they had been drunk at the time but that wasn't an excuse.

But he had never been drunk before when the making out had begun to feel real so maybe it was….

She bit back a moan of frustration and ran a hand through her hair, stopping short when a small groan left Clark.

"Clark?"

He didn't answer, a grimace appearing on his face.

"Clark?" she stood up, stepping closer, "Are you alright?"

He didn't respond, instead, grimacing harder, his face taking on a pained expression.

Fearful that even though his powers were (clearly) back the alcohol she had fed him was doing something to him, she tried harder, "Clark?"

A louder groan from him was his only reply.

She stood up and walked over to the couch, a finger poised to poke him in the shoulder, and looked up at him, "Clark. Are you okay?"

His eyes fluttered and, slowly, he opened them fully.

"Hey there," she smiled hesitantly, shifting under him, "Looks like your powers are ba….ahhh!"

She did her best to shield herself from the hard ends of the couch as he fell on her and succeeded-barely. An inch to the left and she wouldn't have hit the pillow Clark had been using before his powers made a comeback. Still, she was satisfied with how she had fallen. The only downside was that he was now on top of her.

"Lois?" he blinked down at her, his body directly over hers and his hands holding hers supine against the pillow.

"Uh-huh," she replied, blinking back. She licked her lips and moved slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position but he was so heavy she was finding it difficult.

Sensing her discomfort, he apologized, and moved to the side, "Sorry. Was I just…?"

"Floating? Yeah, you were. I was impressed if it makes any difference."

It did.

"And you were….?"

"Trying to make sure I hadn't killed you with alcohol? Uh-huh. Although if I had known you had such little control over the floating thing, I wouldn't have tried poking you awake," she wiggled her fingers under his hands. "And speaking of that, do you think I could get those back? I kind of need them."

Clark, who was still trying to banish the dream he had been in the middle of when she had woken him up, could only stare at her. Just a moment ago she had been half naked under him and now, now she wasn't but she was still under him and it was very confusing……

"Clark?" she raised an eyebrow. "Did you hear me?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry," he moved his hands but not his body, afraid that the movement would give away what he had been dreaming about (as it was he was going to have difficulty getting her out from under him without her realizing something was different).

"That's better," she sighed, wriggling her now freed fingers. "And you're better too apparently. How do you feel?"

He lifted his torso, "Fine."

"Like, back to normal fine or 'don't have a hangover' fine?"

"Both," he murmured, raising his voice a bit for what he had to say next. He flexed his hands, knowing without proof that all his powers were back. He felt powerful, or at least more powerful than he had been feeling recently. Later he could check it definitively but for now he would go on instinct. He cleared his throat, Lois' expectant gaze reminding him that he still needed to answer her question, "I'm back to normal."

She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, I figured that since you were floating."

He shot her an indulgent look and continued, "And because of that, I'm not hungover."

"Well good. I'm happy for you. My first time drinking I woke up the next morning and spent the rest of the day puking," she looked up at him and smiled, "Now if you'll get off of me, I'll let you get back to the sleep I so rudely interrupted."

Clark thought back to the dream he had been having and decided that, before he went back to fantasizing about Lois, he might want to have a small conversation with her about what had happened earlier. "Er, Lois….about earlier…"

Lois made a face and shook her head, unwilling to let him see how much it hurt her that what they had done could never be a reality, "I put you in an awkward position, Clark, and I'm sorry. In my own defense, I could probably blame the alcohol but I still shouldn't have done it. You have a girlfriend."

He shook his head, "It wasn't entirely your fault though. If there's blame to be spread around, I deserve half of it."

She raised an eyebrow incredulously, "Clark, I practically threw myself at you."

"Only after I admitted that I was having inappropriate thoughts about you."

She glared up at him, "Are you going to argue with me about this? It was my fault!"

"Only if you insist on blaming only yourself for this. And no, it wasn't your fault."

"Well, who are you going to blame it on?" she tilted her head to one side, making herself comfortable against the pillow. If she knew them well enough, they would be here arguing longer than she could anticipate and therefore it paid to be comfy.

"I can't blame it on the alcohol?"

"Well yeah, you can, but there's a point at which we need to take responsibility for this and we can't let it go entirely on the shoulders of an intoxicating substance."

"Okay, so it's my fault then."

"How is it your fault?"

"I'm the one who admitted I had physical feelings for you. You were only reacting to what I told you."

"That doesn't change the fact that I should have had more self control," she scowled.

"Yes, but," he let his elbows drop, tiredness getting the better of him. "We WERE drunk."

"Tipsy. I prefer tipsy. Drunk implies a messy loss of control and what we lost was neither messy nor what I would call control at all."

"What would you call what we lost then?"

"I was going to go with our minds actually but you can be the judge of that."

A beat passed, full of unspoken words both were too afraid to say. After a moment though, it became too much for Clark and he spoke, "Why'd you kiss me, Lois?"

"Why'd you kiss me back?"

"You know why."

"Sort of but….it always helps to elaborate…."

"Lois, you're avoiding the question."

She breathed a breath out of her nose, "Clark, you're a very attractive man. I think it's safe to say why I kissed you. And now that we've established the fact that we're both physically attracted to one another I think we need to re-visit the original point."

"And what's that?"

"My point is that it doesn't change the fact that you have a girlfriend and I'm in the middle of helping you con the town into believing that you and I are going out. Do you not see the badness inherent in this situation?"

He went silent again, thinking. Eventually, he sighed, "Yeah. Yeah I do. I'm with Lana."

"Yes you are."

"And you're my best friend."

"In lieu of Chloe, yes I am."

"Lois," he caught her eye and shot her a chastising look, "I hate when you do that. You're my best friend. Lana, sex, whatever….nothing is going to change that."

"You know as well as I do that I'm just filling Chloe's shoes. If she were here…."

"If she were here," he interrupted. "I would still be feeling what I'm feeling for you. The only thing that would be different is that Chloe would be here making fun of me."

"Clark….."

"No," he shook his head, "You don't get to argue with me about this. Anything else but this is fair game and I will argue all you want on whatever subject you choose but this? No. You're my best friend and I don't let anyone put down my best friend."

Lois fought the urge the smile because what she had to do would just be harder. Instead, she cleared her throat and tried to put aside the warm fuzzy feelings his words had conjured up, "Yeah, well, we still can't be doing what we did earlier."

"I agree," he nodded, "Making out unless the rest of the town is watching us is out of the question."

"Um-hm."

"And almost having sex with each other when we're drunk is also bad."

"Most certainly."

He looked up at her, his face next to hers on the couch, "Then why is it I still want to do it?"

She returned the look sharply, "That's not allowed, Clark."

"I know," he murmured.

She continued to look at him, examining his face, "You're not still drunk, are you?"

"No."

She sniffed her nose and looked down, "Then I think you've got yourself a problem."

"Why's that?"

"Well, stepping back from this objectively, you're currently feeling attraction for a woman who is not your girlfriend and it's gotten to the point where-and I'm quoting you on this- you have to think about said woman in order to get in any kind of physical mood with her. That, I think, is a problem."

If she had dumped a bucket of water over him right now he wouldn't have felt it. Numb as realization that she was right swept over him, Clark let out a shaky sigh.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, a hand now coming up to run through his hair supportively.

"It's not your fault."

She chuckled, "Now don't start that again. Ring around the 'fault' tree is a bad game."

A wisp of a smile crossed his face.

She took a breath, "Not to be impatient or anything, but what are you planning on doing about it?"

"What?"

She rolled her eyes, "You cannot leave Lana with a half fulfilled relationship. She wants the whole package and you're not giving it to her. As much as I find her annoying, as a woman I understand that and therefore think it's wrong that you're not giving it to her."

"You do? I thought you hated her."

"That's beside the point."

He breathed out, gathering his thoughts.

"And I need to know too."

Clark looked up and raised an eyebrow, "You do?"

She shifted uncomfortably under him, her eyes avoiding his, "Well, it's just that we've come to the conclusion that we have physical attraction for each other, which is a problem, and I need to know what you're planning on doing with that attraction so that I can either box the feelings up and go back to being friends or….."

He kissed her and she, overwhelmed by the feel of his lips on hers, kissed him back numbly.

She took a breath when it was over, licking her now tingling lips, "….or we can do that."

"I'm breaking up with Lana," he sighed. "You're right. It's unfair to her. I don't love her anymore, at least not the way I once did."

Lois, not knowing what to say to that, blinked and tried to clear her suddenly romance filled head. It was unlike her to go there with anyone and she wanted to blame the physical attraction for it but she had been physically attracted to men before and she had never pictured…..

Well, pictured was probably the wrong verb. At the moment her mind was singing it's own version of Natasha Bedingfield's 'I Wanna Have Your Babies' at her and the only conclusion she could come to was that it must be stopped.

Unfortunately for Lois, her mouth had other plans.

"Lois?" Clark, worried about her silence, probed quietly.

"How do you feel about me?" her mouth betrayed her.

"Lois…."

"Clark, I need to know that you're not breaking up with Lana because you just want to have sex with me. I mean, I want it too but not at that cost."

He looked down at her, intent on easing the guilt he could see in her features. Guilt over Lana, what they had been doing….and come to think of it, probably guilt over Chloe too. Despite how much he had known she wanted to hide it, he had caught how happy his comments over her being his best friend had made her and he knew those feelings stemmed out of the most underlying feeling of all between them: that somehow she was invading on Chloe's territory.

"Lois, I think I'm falling in love with you."

She opened her mouth to speak again so he carried on in a rush, knowing without her saying anything that she was about to try to argue him out of such a commitment filled statement fresh out of a (or soon to out of anyway) relationship.

"It started with the corn field…the first time if I'm right. I mean, there was an attraction but between everything else I just didn't see it. I've never argued with anyone like that but you were Chloe's cousin. It might have started there between us if we had let it but….there was Lana to consider," he met her eye, "That's not an excuse by the way, just a fact. I was stupid and…."

"Obsessed."

"That too. You were always different with me and I hated that at first. It made it difficult to be around you because you saw through my…." He struggled for the right word.

"Bullshit?"

"Well, kind of, I mean….."

"If the shoe fits, wear it, Smallville."

"Fine. You saw through my…." He gained another look from Lois as he hesitated and then moved on, "….and called me on it. It was good for me but….I can't say I liked you for it.

He took a breath and cleared his throat, "And then Chloe died and everything changed. You went from being someone I avoided to someone I couldn't do without because you were the only one who understood everything about me. You got the insecurities, and the balancing act and the guilt over…."

"Everything," she interjected again, unable to stop herself.

"Everything," he agreed. "What's happened recently only opened my eyes to what was already there. I just…."

"Shhh," she interrupted again. "You don't need to say anything more."

"Oh but I do. You need to know."

"Clark, I do. I do because…." She swallowed hard and bit the bullet-if Clark could talk about his feelings, so could she, "Because I think I'm falling in love with you too."

And with that statement lying between them, she kissed him again.

How they managed to get upstairs was something Lois would look back on later and marvel over because she couldn't remember anything past the feel of his lips on hers and the pajamas she was wearing feeling so tight against her skin that she wanted to tear them off.

They stumbled into his room and fell onto the bed, Lois' back hitting the mattress first in a position reminiscent of the one they had just left the sofa with. Clark's mouth hit her neck now and she groaned, enjoying this far more than she had ever enjoyed it when they were faking it.

And that was probably why she was enjoying it more, come to think of it.

She rolled them onto their sides, knowing from experience that making out with Clark was always more enjoyable when she had more space to touch him too. Under him was too limited, too….ohhh….. what had she been thinking about?"

He kissed her leisurely, his hand making a slow trail up her side before settling over the small of her back. She returned the favor impatiently, her mouth opening his and adding a little tongue.

Something she had forgotten he loved so much but she remembered now as he moaned a breath into her mouth and tightened his hold on her waist, his hand abandoning this task after a moment to settle closer to her breasts. The hand lingered there a moment but shifted south and then back north….

Lois broke away abruptly and pulled her shirt off, returning to him as soon as it was halfway across the floor.

He lifted an eyebrow.

"Just call it leveling the playing field," she teased.

"Call it whatever you want," he pulled her closer. "You're gorgeous."

She let him push her back onto the bed, "Clark, correct me if I'm wrong but you've touched my breasts before."

"Yeah but I've never been allowed to look at them," he kissed a trail down her neck, continuing to do the same to the sides, and then the tips of her breast.

She closed her eyes and let the new sensations he was causing course through her, "You only had to ask me."

He looked up her body, "I'll remember that for next time."

He went back to kissing her and it was fine for a moment but Lois had endured months of foreplay and to have him finally touching skin with his mouth was such a sensation that it was quickly making what little patience she might have had left poised to break.

She let out a groan and pulled him up, capturing his mouth with her own as soon as he was high up enough to do so, "Second base is getting old, Smallville. Enough is enough."

He lifted his head, "What?"

She reached down to loosen the drawstring holding up his pajama pants.

Clark clamped a hand down on hers and she caught his eye defiantly.

"Lois," he looked down on her, leaning forward to kiss the shell of her ear. "I have been fantasizing about this moment for a long time and I'm going to last about two minutes if you go there now so…."

She slipped her hand free and undid the draw string anyway, "Who says I'm not going to last two minutes too?"

He breathed out a shuddering breath as her hand brushed against the erection he had been sporting in varying degrees since she had woken him from his dream earlier. She began to remove his pajama pants….

Clark moved to help her and soon his pants joined her shirt on the floor.

She looked him over, afraid to touch him now that he was naked in front of her.

"Lois?"

She let out a small chuckle, "And you call ME gorgeous."

Flattered, he stole her mouth again, breaking apart only long enough to remind her that she was wearing entirely too many clothes.

She lifted her bottom half away and took off her sleep shorts all the while kissing him and then she was back, her abdomen flush against his, trapping his erection between them.

Her hand resumed its earlier journey and finally gripped him, causing him to gasp.

She massaged the tip, the small sounds he was making into her mouth turning her on more than she had thought was possible and suddenly any fear she might have been feeling about what they were about to do went away and she couldn't wait for him to be inside her.

Clark, who was having the same idea if the rocking motion into her hand was any indication, broke off with a gasp and took her hand away, quickly leaning over her and reaching into his dresser.

"Please tell me you have condoms," she murmured against him, "I forgot to ask."

"Well, I can't say I expected to be having sex tonight," he replied apologetically, coming back to her with a small foil packet in his hand, "But, that being said…."

"You're such a boy scout," she took it from him and removed the foil, tossing it off the bed as she unwrapped the condom and slipped it on him. "I never used to love that about you but now…."

She trailed off with a soft exhale of relief as he moved on top of her, pushing her down on the bed. She raised a leg in encouragement, feeling him push at her entrance hesitantly.

They both let out a groan as he slid into her though and another as he moved for the first time.

"Mmfph," she sighed into his mouth, her arms moving up his sides and pulling him closer. "That feels so good."

He let her, reaching down to settle a leg over his hip. He groaned as the angle enabled her to take more of him in.

Lois gasped at the sudden change in angle, rocking more urgently as he touched her more deeply and pleasurably than he had before.

'There was a downside to this though,' he thought as Lois' body came down on his in time to his own movements. He hadn't been lying about this only taking two minutes. After all, they had been indulging in extended foreplay for a long time now.

Fortunately for him it looked like Lois hadn't been lying either. He felt her tighten against him and then slow.

"Are you….." she arched against him, her mouth kissing his throat briefly, "….close?"

Clark pulled her closer still and angled his hips away from her, a hand moving down to where they were joined, "Close enough. Are you?"

She let out a shuddering gasp as his thumb came to rest on the hood of her clitoris, "Oh, don't do that. I'm gonna…..I'm gonna….."

She let out a wrenching cry and buried her head in his shoulder as her orgasm overtook her.

The sight of her coming in front of him would have been enough for him to lose it on a normal day. But that paired with how close he already was and the sudden, rhythmic tightening of her internal passage on his erection and he was lost.

Lois came to a moment later as Clark collapsed on top of her, his own orgasm draining him of all his strength. She moved a hand comfortingly over his back and was pleased to find that he returned the sentiment, hugging her tightly to him.

"We should have done that a long time ago," she smiled.

Her words were rewarded with an exhausted chuckle, "Yeah, we should have."


	22. Chapter 21

**A/N Again with the racy. If you're under 17 avert your eyes now.**

**Chapter 21-Coffee and Chocolate**

Lois woke up the next morning to the smell of coffee wafting up the stairs and into Clark's bedroom. Something else was in the air though, nipping on the heels of her memory, something addictive and sweet and….she opened her eyes and smiled.

She had had sex with Clark Kent last night.

She rolled over in the bed and, for a moment let her mind take her back to the previous evening. With one hand she reached out for Clark, hoping that he'd help her re-create the moments spent here….

….and came up with nothing but a handful of sheets for her troubles.

"Clark?" she sat up abruptly, wincing slightly as the movement jostled already sore muscles and looked around the room. The sheet she was holding to herself dropped.

Naked from the bottom up, Lois moved to the edge of the bed, calling his name once more before concluding that he was probably out feeding the cows right now. With this in mind, she stepped over the side and reached for the underwear they had discarded the night before.

Memories of that time coursed through her as she picked them up….

"Hey," a soft voice called from the doorframe.

Lois sat back abruptly, the underwear dropping to the floor again as she reached for the protective cover of the sheets.

Clark let out a knowing chuckle as if to remind her that he had seen it before, and looked at her shyly, "Do you mind if I come in?"

"It's your room," she shrugged, a hot blush appearing on her cheeks.

He sauntered into the room, only now revealing the two mugs of coffee he was holding.

She breathed a sigh of relief, underwear forgotten now that the source of the wonderful smell she had woken up to was being brought to her, "That smells incredible. How'd you know that was what I needed right about now?"

"Probably because it was what I needed about a half an hour ago," he replied, sitting down on the edge of the bed and handing her a mug.

She took a sip, breathing out happily as the first dregs of caffeinated goodness hit her taste buds. Her eyes closed….

Clark, watching as she enjoyed the coffee, chuckled.

She cracked one eye open, "What?"

"Nothing," he shook his head. "I'm just trying to decide whether or not to be jealous."

"Well, if you hadn't gone downstairs to get the coffee I might be making the same kind of face over you now, wouldn't I?" she took another sip, shaking her head and looked at him, "Although, given the choice between this and the other, I'm not sure which I would have picked; where did you get this? It's amazing."

Clark hesitated, wondering for a moment whether or not to tell her that he had gone so far out of his way to make her happy. Seeing the expectant look on her face though, he decided to bite the bullet and take the credit for what he had done.

He cleared his throat, producing a bag from underneath his arm, "The same place I got these from."

Lois raised an eyebrow and took it from him, her coffee cup making its way onto the bedside table before she began to open it. Her jaw dropped when she saw what it was.

Clark fidgeted in his spot, "I didn't think you'd be up as soon as you were, otherwise…."

"Oh you're totally forgiven," she breathed out as she reached into the bag, pulling out one of the pain au chocolat she was pretty sure he had gone to Paris for. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he nodded after a moment, quietly observing her face as she bit into the pastry. Truth be told, he had been a little confused about how to approach this morning. On one hand he and Lois had admitted to themselves and to each other that there was love between them last night and then they had acted on it. Twice. Sort of….

He thought back, amending that count as he remembered the sleepy third time in the middle of the night. Three then. Still, he wasn't sure if she had wanted him there when she woke up so he had gone to Paris to buy breakfast after he had finished the chores instead of climbing back into the bed.

'Apparently that had been the wrong idea though,' his lower half reminded him, annoyed that they had missed another chance to have make love with the woman sitting in front of him in the bed.

Lois, unaware that so much was going on in his head, swallowed that first bite and looked up, "So you really went to…."

"Yeah," he looked back at her sheepishly, his brain applauding his actions even if the rest of him was upset. "I know. It was impulsive and wrong and….."

"….And fantastic," she finished for him as she took another bite, chocolate staining her top lip. "No one's ever gone to Paris to buy pastries for me."

His cheeks began to pink, "It's breakfast, Lois; I thought you'd be hungry after…"

"Yeah," she replied, "But its breakfast you went halfway around the globe for because you know I love it so yes, Clark, it's fantastic. Thank you."

He raised an eyebrow at her, not having anything else to say besides 'you're welcome' but knowing that that would only lead to more niceties being exchanged between them. After the night they had had, the last thing he wanted to do was encourage them to be overly formal with each other again; they were past that.

Besides all that, his sex starved body was hoping he'd be invited back into bed with her this morning and making things awkward would do nothing to achieve that goal.

Lois raised an eyebrow back at him, this time biting her lip as she examined his face trying to gauge what was going on inside that head of his. It WAS fantastic what he had done for her. In fact, she would go so far as to call it romantic but she wasn't sure that telling him that at this point would be a good thing. What they had was so new that she wasn't sure if it could handle that kind of truth. And if she was telling the truth, the kind of move that flying to Paris was would have probably been enough yesterday for her to say 'to hell with it' and just gotten on with the sex part they both, very obviously, had been impatient for. Or maybe not; alcohol had made them both bold in ways she knew coffee and chocolate never would.

Before anyways because the chocolate and coffee he had brought her were so superior that she was having issues figuring out why she hadn't dragged him back to bed the moment she had taken those first few tastes.

Clark though (uncharacteristic of most other guys she had met) either hadn't thought of that or had other ideas because, tired of the silence, he leaned forward and stole the pastry from her hands.

"Hey!" she slapped his hand lightly, her sexy thoughts broken, "That's mine."

"There are 12 in the bag," he took a bite, chocolate now smearing on his top lip too. He licked it off, "If you want another, there's more in there."

She crossed her arms over her chest, knowing the sheet got lower when she did that, and thrust her lip out in a pout, "But I want that one."

Perhaps Clark wasn't as different from the other guys as she had thought because his eyes moved down to her chest….

"Clark? Are you going to give up the chocolate or do I have to go over there and get it?"

He licked his lips and swallowed, forcing his eyes back to her face, and held out the pastry to her.

She took it with a raised eyebrow and bit into it slowly, her eyes closing again as she hit a particularly rich vein of chocolate.

And that was it. Clark, unable to help himself (he didn't know what had gotten into him lately) took the breakfast away and replaced it with his lips.

Lois (whose body was now cheering on Clark for making such a bold, impulsive move) swallowed the bite and returned the kiss, her body hungrily reminding her that chocolate and coffee weren't the only things she needed right now.

He pulled back a moment later, licking his lips to clear the chocolate that was now on his lips, "Sorry…."

She licked her own lips now, "It's alright. I think I needed that too."

"You think?" he put the pastry aside and leaned in again, "We must not have done as good a job as I thought we did if you only think we needed that."

"Okay, I KNOW we needed that," she kissed him again softly, pulling on his t-shirt until he was leaning over her. "Come back to bed….."

He smiled against her lips, still tasting chocolate, "I want to."

"But?" she whispered, her hands edging into the back of his jeans and touching bare skin.

"But n…." he breathed out a weary sigh as he remembered what he still had to do today. Hungry body or not, his guilty conscious wouldn't let him lie to his soon to be ex-girlfriend any more that he absolutely had to. He cleared his throat and leaned his forehead against hers, "I have to go break up with Lana."

She let out a groan and removed her hands, their foreheads breaking apart as her head fell back against the pillow, "Way to kill the mood, Smallville."

"I'm sorry…."

"No," she shook her head and sat up, pushing him back as she swung her legs over the bed, taking care not to either move her lower half too quickly or her ankle as both were sore from the activity they had been put through the night before, "You're right. You're a boy scout, but you're right; she needs to be told. We can have sex later."

Clark, whose body had only just caught up with what his mind had just done, began to protest loudly.

Unaware of his predicament, Lois reached down again for her underwear, "So where are you meeting her? Or have you not called her yet?"

"Oh, um," he cleared his throat and looked away, feeling uncomfortable plotting his breakup with his girlfriend while watching the woman he had had sex with the night before (not his girlfriend) and right now wanted to have sex with again (still not his girlfriend) get dressed. He ran a hand through his hair, "I figured somewhere quiet was best. Don't want to confuse the town…."

"Smart," she reached for her coffee again, naked but for her underwear.

"I thought so," he continued to look away unsuccessfully, fidgeting now as his uncomfortable situation from a moment before grew. His brain began to shout that he had things to do, things that involved settling his conscious and making Lana and himself not feel like he had been cheating on her for real this time even though last night had definitely crossed that line. It was all about feeling better after all and feeling better inside would start with being honest with Lana.

"What are you planning to say to her?" Lois looked back at him, her mouth still open questioningly.

He looked up again and immediately wished he hadn't as his body fought back, announcing proudly (and slightly painfully) that sex with Lois would make him feel better too…."I honestly don't know but….look, could you put a shirt on? It's very distracting…"

"Distracting?" she laughed now as she noticed his predicament, the coffee she had just picked up going back to the bedside table. "Clark? Did you want to have sex? Because we could you know. Might take the edge off…."

He shook his head and tried to will away the erection now straining to be let out of his pants. This was insane; he had never been this horny in his life, not even in the early days when he and Lana had, he thought, been having a lot of sex with each other.

'But never three times in one night,' his body reminded him smugly.

"I'm sure it would but we can't," he replied in frustration. "I need to deal with Lana before…." He trailed off as she stood up and the breasts he had been admiring were suddenly in his face, "No. I don't want to have sex with you. I really….don't. Can't really and we just….can't…."

He let out a low groan as the underwear she had just put back on began to make a slow descent down her legs. The space in his jeans suddenly got tighter.

She raised an eyebrow questioningly and stepped out of her panties, taking care not to put too much weight on her still injured ankle, "Can't…."

"Yeah," he swallowed with difficulty, re-assessing the situation quickly and deciding that he was wrong. They could and they would and….his body cheered loudly as it took control from his brain, "Alright. I'm wrong. I want to have sex with you."

Lois, who had been waiting for this since she had woken up, leaned forward to catch the zipper of his jeans. She slid it down, helping to move his jeans down too, "Wow. I feel like I should write this down. Did you just admit you were wrong?"

"Yeah, I did," he cut off the smirk that followed with a bruising kiss, breaking apart a second later to pull his shirt over his head and deposit it on the floor, "You got a problem with that?"

"No," she said into his mouth, closing her eyes as he moved down to kiss her throat, "Not if it means you get to be inside me."

He groaned into her throat and, if she wasn't mistaken, gave her a hickey accidentally as her words registered. "Lois, I…."

"Yes?" she sat down on top of him.

"I….." he was cut off as his cell phone, sitting on the beside table next to her abandoned coffee, began to ring.

Lois' hands stopped trying to take off his pants for him, "You should answer that."

"No I shouldn't," he ran a hand down her back, stopping as he hit her butt to bring her closer. "We're busy."

"Yes you should," she forced his lips back too hers, looking him in the eye as she backed off pointedly, "It might be your mother."

"Or not," he kissed her again, his right hand shifting up her body to play with her left nipple. Lois arched into his touch even as her conscience screamed at her to make him answer the phone; she felt guilty enough having sex with him when he was still with Lana without adding keeping him from talking to his mother to the list.

She hovered over him, fingers filling the void between them as she touched him gently in encouragement, "Answer it, Clark, then we can get on with the good stuff."

"The good stuff?" he breathed out as her fingers fluttered down his length.

"Yes," she tightened her hold to give him a decided stroke; a taste of what was to come and, she knew from last night, enough encouragement to get him to do anything she wanted. Clark, she had found, was fun when he got in this kind of a mood because she could get whatever she wanted out of him.

He sighed, agreeing if only so they could, as she said, get to the good stuff.

Lois leaned back as he reached over for his phone, her hands letting him go completely so he could talk without distraction.

"Hello?"

"Clark? It's Lana."

His eyes went skyward in exasperation. Of course it was Lana….

'Who is it?' Lois mouthed at him and he covered the earpiece, answering her quietly before letting his hand off of the cell phone.

"Oh," she sighed, a twinge of regret pulling at her mind. Guilt was another feeling currently residing within her but she didn't want to indulge that one while she was on top of the other woman's boyfriend. She had broken up with him first, after all…

"…uh huh, right. Uh-huh…."

'And now Clark was having a conversation with her. Great,' she rolled her eyes, kicking herself for making him answer the phone. From the sound of his voice, he was bored but that was no consolation prize since they weren't touching and she couldn't do anything to distract him from the boredom and he….

….had apparently found something to help with the aforementioned boredom. She gasped suddenly as Clark's hands began to play with her again, touching her breasts and absentmindedly rubbing her nipples to hard peaks. She bit her lip as the feel of it sent shivers down her spine.

'What are you doing?' she mouthed at him again.

Clark didn't answer, responding only by moving his hand down until it touched…

Lois had to bite her lip to keep herself from making noise as he found his mark and rubbed. She arched into him again, encouraging him without words to touch her. He continued his languid pace though so she decided to take action.

"Where did you want to meet?" he said into the phone, reaching with his index finger lower still past Lois' curls and inside, his thumb continuing to touch her softly.

Lois' hands, sitting on his shoulders now, clenched in time to the blood vessels he could hear speeding up inside of her as he brought her closer to the edge. He didn't hear Lana as she suggested somewhere and he vetoed the suggestion, complaining that it was too public. She made another suggestion…

One of Lois' hands left his shoulder and went lower, rubbing around his erection but not touching it. "Yes…." He sighed.

Unable to stop himself, he bucked his hips, inadvertently slipping his gentle rubbing into something firmer even as Lana made her good byes over the phone. Where had they just agreed to meet?

Lois sucked in a shocked breath as he found her g-spot and rubbed firmly. Pressure inside her built until she thought she was going to snap in two…

"I'll see you later Lana," Clark bit off softly, shutting the phone closed. He turned back to look at Lois who, if he wasn't mistaken, was about to orgasm against his hand. He eased up the pressure.

Lois groaned pitifully, rasping out something he was sure was a complaint, so he sped up.

And then slowed down.

In retaliation, she removed her hand from his shoulder again and gripped his penis firmly, stroking him in long, fluid strokes in time with his finger. Pre-cum leaked ominously from the tip and, frantic now for release, she leaned back towards the bedside table for the box of condoms they had left on top. She needed him inside her….

He let her put the condom on, a second later, flipping her over and slipping inside.

Lois, keyed up from before, forcibly slowed her hips from the pace they tried to set her but it was too late. Thanking whomever had put such fabulous hands on Clark, she came against him.

Clark, keyed up too, followed moments later.

"That was fun," he murmured against her chest, moments later.

She leaned her head back against the pillow with a huff, "Fun? You were on the phone with Lana and you…."

He raised his head and smiled at her expectantly, "I….?"

"You just…and I….," she sputtered a moment, "Okay, that was fun. But don't think I'm not annoyed with you Mister."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he sighed, letting his head fall back down.

She ran her hand through his hair as she settled more comfortably against him, "So where did you agree to meet her?"

He breathed into neck, "I don't know. I didn't hear that part."

She let out a chuckle, "Whose fault was that, do you think?"

"Mine. I take full credit for it."

"You should phone her back."

"And explain why I didn't hear her the first time? Yeah. That'd be fun," he raised his head again, furrowing his brow as he thought. "I think she said….but then…oh jeez."

"What?"

"I, um," he swallowed nervously, "I think I agreed to meet her at the Talon."

"You think?"

"Lois, I was kind of busy at the time."

She leaned up and kissed his softly on the lips, "Yeah. You were. What time did you say?"

"Noon," he sighed, kissing her back. "I remember that much."

He broke away a moment later, turning to look at the clock.

"What time is it?" she asked quietly, her hand reaching up to brush his hair out of his face.

He looked down at her, love he had fought for so long overwhelming him with that one touch. He smiled down at her and she returned it. Now he was confused. Yes, he had to talk to Lana in two hours but on the other hand, his parents weren't home until this afternoon which meant, effectively, that he didn't have anywhere he had to be but here. Something inside of him seemed to click into place and finally, he knew what he wanted.

And that something was Lois.

"Clark?"

He leaned down and kissed her again.

"What time is it?" she gasped a moment later when he let her up for air.

"10:00," he removed himself from on top of her and disposed of the condom. His jeans, still clinging to his knees, were next. Naked now, he picked up a new condom from the bedside table...

Lois raised an eyebrow, regarding him seriously as she tried to figure out when in the last fifteen minutes he had done a decisive 180 degree turn on her. She could have sworn he had wanted to get on with the day but now she wasn't sure what he wanted to do.

Well, that much was apparent if the condom in his hand was any indication. She tilted her head to one side, "Plenty of time then apparently."

"I was hoping," he raised an eyebrow back, questioningly.

Lois stared back at him, the serious look she had adopted still on her face. She loved Clark, she really did, but this side of him was something she had never seen. It was true what they said about genie's being let out of the bottle….

And she was loving every minute of it.

Her serious expression caved, need left over from the last time flaring up as she watched him walk towards her. She sighed, a mischievous grin now on her face, "If we must. But Clark? This time I get to be on top."


End file.
